Methods for thaxtomin production in engineered non-native streptomyces in the absence of cellobiose

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure includes refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene clusters including thaxtomin modules including one or more thaxtomin genes such that the expression of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster produces at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions. Also included are genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium from a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain comprising an exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of the present disclosure, such that the expression of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions. The present disclosure also includes methods of producing thaxtomin compounds, analogs, or intermediate with the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene clusters and genetically engineered bacteria of the present disclosure.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. provisional application titled “Methods for Thaxtomin Production and Engineered Non-native Streptomyces with Increased Thaxtomin Production in the Absence of Cellobiose,” having Ser. No. 62/591,876, filed on Nov. 29, 2017, which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.

SEQUENCE LISTING

This application contains a sequence listing filed in electronic form as an ASCII.txt file entitled 222110-2550_ST25.txt, created on Nov. 29, 2018 and having a size of 65 KB. The content of the sequence listing is incorporated herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The thaxtomins are a group of phytotoxins generated by some species of Streptomyces bacteria, such as Streptomyces scabiei(the main causal organism of potato common scab). The thaxtomins can cause plant cell necrosis of various plant species and thus have broad spectrum herbicidal activity. These potent herbicidal activities, along with their environmentally benign and bio-degradable properties, make thaxtomins good green herbicides

Five toxins, including thaxtomin A and thaxtomin B, that induce the formation of scabs on potato tubers have been isolated from S. scabiei, and as at least 11 thaxtomin analogs have also been isolated. They are cyclic dipeptides classed as 2,5-Diketopiperazines, with thaxtomin A, the most abundant, having the chemical formula C₂₂H₂₂N₄O₆. Individual thaxtomins appear to differ only in the presence or absence of N-methyl and hydroxyl groups and their respective substitution sites.

The genes involved in thaxtomin biosynthesis are located on a part of the genome called the pathogenicity island, present in the pathogenic Streptomyces strains, such as but not limited to, S. scabiei, S. acidiscabies and S. turgidiscabies. Although more than 800 Streptomyces species are known to date, only a small number of species have so far been known to be phytopathogenic (Loria et al. 2006). The best characterized pathogenic species are S. scabiei, S. acidiscabies, S. turgidiscabies, and S. ipomoeae (Loria et al. 2008).

Thaxtomins inhibit the synthesis of cellulose, the major component of the plant cell wall, and cause dramatic plant cell hypertrophy and seedling stunting at the nM level (Bischoff et al. 2009; Fry and Loria 2002; King et al. 2001). The attractive bioactivities of thaxtomins makes them desirable candidates for development and use as natural, commercial herbicides for weed control (Koivunen et al. 2013; Leep et al. 2010). However, the limited productivity of thaxtomins in existing Streptomyces species as well as limited ability for production on an industrial scale presents problems, such as slow production, low yields, and the need for certain inducers, which are all constraining factors for commercialization. For instance, several pathogenic Streptomyces strains are known to produce thaxtomins in the presence of cellobiose as the inducer. However, the productivity is generally in the several mg/L range, and the high cost of cellobiose further limits the applications of these strains in large-scale production of these herbicides.

SUMMARY

Briefly described, the present disclosure provides refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene clusters for enabling a transformed non-pathogenic bacterial cell to produce of thaxtomin A and/or other thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions, such as cellobiose. The present disclosure also includes genetically engineered, non-pathogenic Streptomyces bacterium with exogenous, non-native thaxtomin biosynthetic gene clusters conferring the genetically engineered, non-pathogenic Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce thaxtomin compounds, derivatives, and intermediates in the absence of cellobiose. The present disclosure also includes methods of producing thaxtomin and thaxtomin intermediates and the thaxtomin and thaxtomin intermediate compounds produced by the methods of the present disclosure.

Embodiments of genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria of the present disclosure include: a Streptomyces bacterium from a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain, the Streptomyces bacterium comprising an exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprising at least two thaxtomin modules. In embodiments, each module includes one or more thaxtomin genes from a thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster from a pathogenic Streptomyces strain, and one or more promoters operably linked to the one or more thaxtomin genes. The at least two thaxtomin modules represent a refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster such that expression of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions, where the non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain without the refactored thaxtomin cluster does not have the ability to produce the thaxtomin compound. In some embodiments described in the present disclosure, the at least two thaxtomin modules include a first module, module 1, including a txtE and a txtD biosynthetic gene and a second module, module 2, including a txtA, a txtB, and optionaly txtH biosynthetic gene.

Embodiments according to the present disclosure of a refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster include: one or more thaxtomin modules, each module having at least the following: one or more thaxtomin genes from a thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster from a pathogenic Streptomyces bacteria, and one or more promoters operably linked to the one or more thaxtomin genes. The one or more thaxtomin modules form a refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster such that expression of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster produces at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions. In embodiments, if the thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprises only one thaxtomin module, that thaxtomin module comprises two or more thaxtomin genes.

The present disclosure also provides methods of providing a genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium capable of producing thaxtomin compounds in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions. In embodiments, such methods include: providing a Streptomyces bacterium from a naturally non-pathogenic species that does not produce thaxtomin; and genetically engineering the Streptomyces bacterium to include an exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprising one or more thaxtomin modules that form the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster. In such embodiments, each thaxtomin module includes: one or more thaxtomin genes from a thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster from a pathogenic Streptomyces bacteria, and one or more promoters operably linked to the one or more thaxtomin genes in the one or more modules, where the exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions.

Embodiments of methods of producing a thaxtomin compound of the present disclosure include: culturing genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria from a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions, where the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium have an exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster including one or more thaxtomin modules, each module having one or more thaxtomin genes from a thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster from a pathogenic Streptomyces bacteria, and one or more promoters operably linked to the one or more thaxtomin genes. In such embodiments, the one or more thaxtomin modules form a refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster such that expression of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions.

Methods of the present disclosure also include producing a thaxtomin compound analog or intermediate. In embodiments, such methods include: culturing genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria from a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions, the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium including an exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprising one or more thaxtomin modules, where the one or more thaxtomin modules include a txtE, a txtD a txtA, a txtB, and a txtH biosynthetic gene and one or more promoters operably linked to the biosynthetic genes. In embodiments, the biosynthetic gene cluster does not comprise a txtC biosynthetic gene, and the thaxtomin modules form a refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster such that expression of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce at least one thaxtomin compound analog or intermediate in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions.

The present disclosure also includes embodiments of genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium including: a Streptomyces bacterium from a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain, the Streptomyces bacterium having an exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprising one or more thaxtomin modules. In such embodiments, each module includes one or more thaxtomin genes from a thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster from a plant pathogenic Streptomyces bacterium, where if the thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprises only one thaxtomin module, that thaxtomin module comprises two or more thaxtomin genes. Each module also includes one or more promoters operably linked to the one or more thaxtomin genes in the one or more thaxtomin modules, such that expression of the thaxtomin genes in the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions, where the non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain without the refactored thaxtomin cluster does not have the ability to produce the thaxtomin compound.

Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the present disclosure will be or will become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description, and be within the scope of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further aspects of the present disclosure will be more readily appreciated upon review of the detailed description of its various embodiments, described below, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

FIG. 1 illustrates the chemical structures of selected thaxtomins and nitro-tryptophan analogs.

FIG. 2 illustrates partial and complete refactored gene clusters of thaxtomin.

FIG. 3 illustrates HPLC analysis of metabolite profiles of S. albus J1074-RF-thx and S. scabiei 87.22 cultured in different media.

FIG. 4 illustrates HPLC analysis of metabolite profiles of S. albus J1074-RF-thx and S. scabiei 87.22 cultured in TDM supplemented with various sugars.

FIG. 5 illustrates HPLC analysis of extracts of S. albus J1074-RF-ΔC-thx and S. scabiei 87.22 cultured in TDMg medium. S. albus 1074-RF-partial-thx: S. albus J1074-RF-ΔC-thx.

FIG. 6A illustrates a designed refactored thaxtomin cluster for the expression of 4-NO₂-I-tryptophan in S. albus J1074, which is further converted into compound 6. FIG. 6B is a graph illustrating the relative activity of different constitutive promoters from S. albus in driving the expression of the designed cluster of FIG. 6A. HPLC analysis quantitated the concentration of compound 6 in the ISP4 medium of each strain. The amount of compound 6 produced by the cluster containing the P6 was set as 100% for normalizing the relative strength of other promoters. The data represent means±S. D. of at least two independent experiments

FIG. 7A is a schematic illustration of embodiments of two refactored biosynthetic thaxtomin gene clusters according to the present disclosure. FIG. 7B is an HPLC analysis revealing the production of thaxtomin analogues by two S. albus J1074 strains engineered with the refactored gene clusters of FIG. 7A in ISP4 and TDMm media. Traces I and II represented the extracts from TDMm and ISP4 media of S. albus J1074-P6TxtC-P6TxtABH-P6TxtE-P1TxtD, respectively. Traces III and IV indicated the extracts from TDMm and ISP4 media of S. albus J1074-P6TxtC-P6TxtABH-P24TxtED, respectively. The strains were cultured at 30° C. and 250 rpm for 4 days. FIG. 7C is a graph illustrating the production of thaxtomin A by S. albus J1074-P6TxtC-P6TxtABH-P6TxtE-P1TxtD and S. albus J1074-P6TxtC-P6TxtABH-P24TxtED in TDMm and ISP4. The data represent means±S. D. of at least two independent experiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before the present disclosure is described in greater detail, it is to be understood that this disclosure is not limited to particular embodiments described, as such may, of course, vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting, since the scope of the present disclosure will be limited only by the appended claims.

Where a range of values is provided, it is understood that each intervening value, to the tenth of the unit of the lower limit (unless the context clearly dictates otherwise), between the upper and lower limit of that range, and any other stated or intervening value in that stated range, is encompassed within the disclosure. The upper and lower limits of these smaller ranges may independently be included in the smaller ranges and are also encompassed within the disclosure, subject to any specifically excluded limit in the stated range. Where the stated range includes one or both of the limits, ranges excluding either or both of those included limits are also included in the disclosure.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can also be used in the practice or testing of the present disclosure, the preferred methods and materials are now described.

As will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading this disclosure, each of the individual embodiments described and illustrated herein has discrete components and features which may be readily separated from or combined with the features of any of the other several embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the present disclosure. Any recited method can be carried out in the order of events recited or in any other order that is logically possible.

Embodiments of the present disclosure will employ, unless otherwise indicated, techniques of chemistry, botany, biochemistry, biology, molecular biology, and the like, which are within the skill of the art. Such techniques are explained fully in the literature.

The following examples are put forth so as to provide those of ordinary skill in the art with a complete disclosure and description of how to perform the methods and use the compositions and compounds disclosed and claimed herein. Efforts have been made to ensure accuracy with respect to numbers (e.g., amounts, temperature, etc.), but some errors and deviations should be accounted for. Unless indicated otherwise, parts are parts by weight, temperature is in ° C., and pressure is at or near atmospheric. Standard temperature and pressure are defined as 20° C. and 1 atmosphere.

Before the embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail, it is to be understood that, unless otherwise indicated, the present disclosure is not limited to particular materials, reagents, reaction materials, manufacturing processes, or the like, as such can vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for purposes of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting. It is also possible in the present disclosure that steps can be executed in different sequence where this is logically possible.

All publications and patents cited in this specification are cited to disclose and describe the methods and/or materials in connection with which the publications are cited. Publications and patents that are incorporated by reference, where noted, are incorporated by reference as if each individual publication or patent were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. Such incorporation by reference is expressly limited to the methods and/or materials described in the cited publications and patents and does not extend to any lexicographical definitions from the cited publications and patents. Any lexicographical definition in the publications and patents cited that is not also expressly repeated in the instant application should not be treated as such and should not be read as defining any terms appearing in the accompanying claims. Any terms not specifically defined within the instant application, including terms of art, are interpreted as would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the relevant art; thus, is not intended for any such terms to be defined by a lexicographical definition in any cited art, whether or not incorporated by reference herein, including but not limited to, published patents and patent applications. The citation of any publication is for its disclosure prior to the filing date and should not be construed as an admission that the present disclosure is not entitled to antedate such publication by virtue of prior disclosure. Further, the dates of publication provided could be different from the actual publication dates that may need to be independently confirmed.

It must be noted that, as used in the specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a cell” includes a plurality of cells. In this specification and in the claims that follow, reference will be made to a number of terms that shall be defined to have the following meanings unless a contrary intention is apparent.

As used herein, the following terms have the meanings ascribed to them unless specified otherwise. In this disclosure, “consisting essentially of” or “consists essentially” or the like, when applied to methods and compositions encompassed by the present disclosure refers to compositions like those disclosed herein, but which may contain additional structural groups, composition components or method steps (or analogs or derivatives thereof as discussed above). Such additional structural groups, composition components or method steps, etc., however, do not materially affect the basic and novel characteristic(s) of the compositions or methods, compared to those of the corresponding compositions or methods disclosed herein. “Consisting essentially of” or “consists essentially” or the like, when applied to methods and compositions encompassed by the present disclosure have the meaning ascribed in U.S. Patent law and the term is open-ended, allowing for the presence of more than that which is recited so long as basic or novel characteristics of that which is recited is not changed by the presence of more than that which is recited, but excludes prior art embodiments.

Prior to describing the various embodiments, the following definitions are provided and should be used unless otherwise indicated.

Definitions

In describing and claiming the disclosed subject matter, the following terminology will be used in accordance with the definitions set forth below.

The terms “nucleic acid” and “polynucleotide” are terms that generally refer to a string of at least two base-sugar-phosphate combinations. As used herein, the terms include deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) and generally refer to any polyribonucleotide or polydeoxyribonucleotide, which may be unmodified RNA or DNA or modified RNA or DNA. RNA may be in the form of a tRNA (transfer RNA), snRNA (small nuclear RNA), rRNA (ribosomal RNA), mRNA (messenger RNA), anti-sense RNA, RNAi (RNA interference construct), siRNA (short interfering RNA), or ribozymes. Thus, for instance, polynucleotides as used herein refers to, among others, single-and double-stranded DNA, DNA that is a mixture of single-and double-stranded regions, single- and double-stranded RNA, and RNA that is mixture of single- and double-stranded regions, hybrid molecules comprising DNA and RNA that may be single-stranded or, more typically, double-stranded or a mixture of single- and double-stranded regions. The terms “nucleic acid sequence” and “oligonucleotide” also encompasses a nucleic acid and polynucleotide as defined above.

In addition, polynucleotide as used herein refers to double-stranded regions comprising RNA or DNA or both RNA and DNA. The strands in such regions may be from the same molecule or from different molecules. The regions may include all of one or more of the molecules, but more typically involve only a region of some of the molecules. One of the molecules of a double-helical region often is an oligonucleotide.

It will be appreciated that a great variety of modifications have been made to DNA and RNA that serve many useful purposes known to those of skill in the art. The term polynucleotide as it is employed herein embraces such chemically, enzymatically or metabolically modified forms of polynucleotides, as well as the chemical forms of DNA and RNA characteristic of viruses and cells, including simple and complex cells, inter alia. For instance, the term polynucleotide includes DNAs or RNAs as described above that contain one or more modified bases. Thus, DNAs or RNAs comprising unusual bases, such as inosine, or modified bases, such as tritylated bases, to name just two examples, are polynucleotides as the term is used herein. The terms herein also include naturally occurring, chemically modified, and chemically synthesized DNA/RNA.

The term also includes PNAs (peptide nucleic acids), phosphorothioates, and other variants of the phosphate backbone of native nucleic acids. Natural nucleic acids have a phosphate backbone, artificial nucleic acids may contain other types of backbones, but contain the same bases. Thus, DNAs or RNAs with backbones modified for stability or for other reasons are “nucleic acids” or “polynucleotides” as that term is intended herein.

A “gene” typically refers to a hereditary unit corresponding to a sequence of DNA that occupies a specific location on a chromosome and that contains the genetic instruction for a characteristic(s) or trait(s) in an organism.

As used herein, the term “transfection” refers to the introduction of an exogenous and/or recombinant nucleic acid sequence into the interior of a membrane enclosed space of a living cell, including introduction of the nucleic acid sequence into the cytosol of a cell as well as the interior space of a mitochondria, nucleus, or chloroplast. The nucleic acid may be in the form of naked DNA or RNA, it may be associated with various proteins or regulatory elements (e.g., a promoter and/or signal element), or the nucleic acid may be incorporated into a vector or a chromosome. A “transformed” cell is thus a cell transfected with a nucleic acid sequence. The term “transformation” refers to the introduction of a nucleic acid (e.g., DNA or RNA) into cells in such a way as to allow expression of the coding portions of the introduced nucleic acid.

As used herein, “transformation” or “transformed” refers to the introduction of a nucleic acid (e.g., DNA or RNA) into cells in such a way as to allow expression of the coding portions of the introduced nucleic acid.

As used herein a “transformed cell” is a cell transfected with a nucleic acid sequence. As used herein, a “transgene” refers to an artificial gene or portion thereof that is used to transform a cell of an organism, such as a bacterium or a plant.

As used herein, “transgenic” refers to a cell, tissue, or organism that contains a transgene.

As used herein, “exogenous nucleic acid sequence” or “exogenous polynucleotide” refers to a nucleic acid sequence that was introduced into a cell, organism, or organelle via transfection. Exogenous nucleic acids originate from an external source, for instance, the exogenous nucleic acid may be from another cell or organism and/or it may be synthetic and/or recombinant, e.g., a “non-native” nucleic acid. While an exogenous nucleic acid sometimes originates from a different organism or species, it may also originate from the same species (e.g., an extra copy or recombinant form of a nucleic acid that is introduced into a cell or organism in addition to or as a replacement for the naturally occurring nucleic acid). Typically, the introduced exogenous sequence is a recombinant sequence.

The term “recombinant” generally refers to a non-naturally occurring nucleic acid, nucleic acid construct, or polypeptide. Such non-naturally occurring nucleic acids may include natural nucleic acids that have been modified, for example that have deletions, substitutions, inversions, insertions, etc., and/or combinations of nucleic acid sequences of different origin that are joined using molecular biology technologies (e.g., a nucleic acid sequences encoding a “fusion protein” (e.g., a protein or polypeptide formed from the combination of two different proteins or protein fragments)), the combination of a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide to a promoter sequence, where the coding sequence and promoter sequence are from different sources or otherwise do not typically occur together naturally). Recombinant also refers to the polypeptide encoded by the recombinant nucleic acid. Non-naturally occurring nucleic acids or polypeptides include nucleic acids and polypeptides modified by man.

As used herein, “isolated” means removed or separated from the native environment. Therefore, isolated DNA can contain both coding (exon) and noncoding regions (introns) of a nucleotide sequence corresponding to a particular gene. An isolated peptide or protein indicates the protein is separated from its natural environment. Isolated nucleotide sequences and/or proteins are not necessarily purified. For instance, an isolated nucleotide or peptide may be included in a crude cellular extract or they may be subjected to additional purification and separation steps.

With respect to nucleotides, “isolated nucleic acid” refers to a nucleic acid with a structure (a) not identical to that of any naturally occurring nucleic acid or (b) not identical to that of any fragment of a naturally occurring genomic nucleic acid spanning more than three separate genes, and includes DNA, RNA, or derivatives or variants thereof. The term covers, for example but not limited to, (a) a DNA which has the sequence of part of a naturally occurring genomic molecule but is not flanked by at least one of the coding sequences that flank that part of the molecule in the genome of the species in which it naturally occurs; (b) a nucleic acid incorporated into a vector or into the genomic nucleic acid of a prokaryote or eukaryote in a manner such that the resulting molecule is not identical to any vector or naturally occurring genomic DNA; (c) a separate molecule such as a cDNA, a genomic fragment, a fragment produced by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), ligase chain reaction (LCR) or chemical synthesis, or a restriction fragment; (d) a recombinant nucleotide sequence that is part of a hybrid gene, e.g., a gene encoding a fusion protein, and (e) a recombinant nucleotide sequence that is part of a hybrid sequence that is not naturally occurring. Isolated nucleic acid molecules of the present disclosure can include, for example, natural allelic variants as well as nucleic acid molecules modified by nucleotide deletions, insertions, inversions, or substitutions.

It is advantageous for some purposes that a nucleotide sequence is in purified form. The term “purified” in reference to nucleic acid represents that the sequence has increased purity relative to the natural environment.

The term “polypeptides” and “protein” include proteins and fragments thereof. Polypeptides are disclosed herein as amino acid residue sequences. Those sequences are written left to right in the direction from the amino to the carboxy terminus. In accordance with standard nomenclature, amino acid residue sequences are denominated by either a three letter or a single letter code as indicated as follows: Alanine (Ala, A), Arginine (Arg, R), Asparagine (Asn, N), Aspartic Acid (Asp, D), Cysteine (Cys, C), Glutamine (Gln, Q), Glutamic Acid (Glu, E), Glycine (Gly, G), Histidine (His, H), Isoleucine (Ile, I), Leucine (Leu, L), Lysine (Lys, K), Methionine (Met, M), Phenylalanine (Phe, F), Proline (Pro, P), Serine (Ser, S), Threonine (Thr, T), Tryptophan (Trp, W), Tyrosine (Tyr, Y), and Valine (Val, V).

“Variant” refers to a polypeptide that differs from a reference polypeptide, but retains essential properties. A typical variant of a polypeptide differs in amino acid sequence from another, reference polypeptide. Generally, differences are limited so that the sequences of the reference polypeptide and the variant are closely similar overall and, in many regions, identical. A variant and reference polypeptide may differ in amino acid sequence by one or more modifications (e.g., substitutions, additions, and/or deletions). A substituted or inserted amino acid residue may or may not be one encoded by the genetic code. A variant of a polypeptide may be naturally occurring such as an allelic variant, or it may be a variant that is not known to occur naturally.

Modifications and changes can be made in the structure of the polypeptides of in disclosure and still obtain a molecule having similar characteristics as the polypeptide (e.g., a conservative amino acid substitution). For example, certain amino acids can be substituted for other amino acids in a sequence without appreciable loss of activity. Because it is the interactive capacity and nature of a polypeptide that defines that polypeptide's biological functional activity, certain amino acid sequence substitutions can be made in a polypeptide sequence and nevertheless obtain a polypeptide with like properties.

In making such changes, the hydropathic index of amino acids can be considered. The importance of the hydropathic amino acid index in conferring interactive biologic function on a polypeptide is generally understood in the art. It is known that certain amino acids can be substituted for other amino acids having a similar hydropathic index or score and still result in a polypeptide with similar biological activity. Each amino acid has been assigned a hydropathic index on the basis of its hydrophobicity and charge characteristics. Those indices are: isoleucine (+4.5); valine (+4.2); leucine (+3.8); phenylalanine (+2.8); cysteine/cysteine (+2.5); methionine (+1.9); alanine (+1.8); glycine (−0.4); threonine (−0.7); serine (−0.8); tryptophan (−0.9); tyrosine (−1.3); proline (−1.6); histidine (−3.2); glutamate (−3.5); glutamine (−3.5); aspartate (−3.5); asparagine (−3.5); lysine (−3.9); and arginine (−4.5).

It is believed that the relative hydropathic character of the amino acid determines the secondary structure of the resultant polypeptide, which in turn defines the interaction of the polypeptide with other molecules, such as enzymes, substrates, receptors, antibodies, antigens, and the like. It is known in the art that an amino acid can be substituted by another amino acid having a similar hydropathic index and still obtain a functionally equivalent polypeptide. In such changes, the substitution of amino acids whose hydropathic indices are within ±2 is preferred, those within ±1 are particularly preferred, and those within ±0.5 are even more particularly preferred.

Substitution of like amino acids can also be made on the basis of hydrophilicity, particularly, where the biological functional equivalent polypeptide or peptide thereby created is intended for use in immunological embodiments. The following hydrophilicity values have been assigned to amino acid residues: arginine (+3.0); lysine (+3.0); aspartate (+3.0±1); glutamate (+3.0±1); serine (+0.3); asparagine (+0.2); glutamnine (+0.2); glycine (0); proline (−0.5±1); threonine (−0.4); alanine (−0.5); histidine (−0.5); cysteine (−1.0); methionine (−1.3); valine (−1.5); leucine (−1.8); isoleucine (−1.8); tyrosine (−2.3); phenylalanine (−2.5); tryptophan (−3.4). It is understood that an amino acid can be substituted for another having a similar hydrophilicity value and still obtain a biologically equivalent, and in particular, an immunologically equivalent polypeptide. In such changes, the substitution of amino acids whose hydrophilicity values are within ±2 is preferred, those within ±1 are particularly preferred, and those within ±0.5 are even more particularly preferred.

As outlined above, amino acid substitutions are generally based on the relative similarity of the amino acid side-chain substituents, for example, their hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, charge, size, and the like. Exemplary substitutions that take various of the foregoing characteristics into consideration are well known to those of skill in the art and include (original residue: exemplary substitution): (Ala: Gly, Ser), (Arg: Lys), (Asn: Gln, His), (Asp: Glu, Cys, Ser), (Gln: Asn), (Glu: Asp), (Gly: Ala), (His: Asn, Gln), (Ile: Leu, Val), (Leu: Ile, Val), (Lys: Arg), (Met: Leu, Tyr), (Ser: Thr), (Thr: Ser), (Tip: Tyr), (Tyr: Trp, Phe), and (Val: Ile, Leu). Embodiments of this disclosure thus contemplate functional or biological equivalents of a polypeptide as set forth above. In particular, embodiments of the polypeptides can include variants having about 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, and 95% sequence identity to the polypeptide of interest.

As used herein “functional variant” refers to a variant of a protein or polypeptide (e.g., a variant of a CCD enzyme) that can perform the same functions or activities as the original protein or polypeptide, although not necessarily at the same level (e.g., the variant may have enhanced, reduced or changed functionality, so long as it retains the basic function).

“Identity,” as known in the art, is a relationship between two or more polypeptide sequences, as determined by comparing the sequences. In the art, “identity” also refers to the degree of sequence relatedness between polypeptide as determined by the match between strings of such sequences. “Identity” and “similarity” can be readily calculated by known methods, including, but not limited to, those described in (Computational Molecular Biology, Lesk, A. M., Ed., Oxford University Press, New York, 1988; Biocomputing: Informatics and Genome Projects, Smith, D. W., Ed., Academic Press, New York, 1993; Computer Analysis of Sequence Data, Part I, Griffin, A. M., and Griffin, H. G., Eds., Humana Press, New Jersey, 1994; Sequence Analysis in Molecular Biology, von Heinje, G., Academic Press, 1987; and Sequence Analysis Primer, Gribskov, M. and Devereux, J., Eds., M Stockton Press, New York, 1991; and Carillo, H., and Lipman, D., SIAM J Applied Math., 48: 1073 (1988).

Preferred methods to determine identity are designed to give the largest match between the sequences tested. Methods to determine identity and similarity are codified in publicly available computer programs. The percent identity between two sequences can be determined by using analysis software (e.g., Sequence Analysis Software Package of the Genetics Computer Group, Madison Wis.) that incorporates the Needelman and Wunsch, (J. Mol. Biol., 48: 443-453, 1970) algorithm (e.g., NBLAST, and XBLAST). The default parameters are used to determine the identity for the polypeptides of the present disclosure.

By way of example, a polypeptide sequence may be identical to the reference sequence, that is be 100% identical, or it may include up to a certain integer number of amino acid alterations as compared to the reference sequence such that the % identity is less than 100%. Such alterations are selected from: at least one amino acid deletion, substitution, including conservative and non-conservative substitution, or insertion, and wherein said alterations may occur at the amino- or carboxy-terminal positions of the reference polypeptide sequence or anywhere between those terminal positions, interspersed either individually among the amino acids in the reference sequence or in one or more contiguous groups within the reference sequence. The number of amino acid alterations for a given % identity is determined by multiplying the total number of amino acids in the reference polypeptide by the numerical percent of the respective percent identity (divided by 100) and then subtracting that product from said total number of amino acids in the reference polypeptide.

The term “expression” as used herein describes the process undergone by a structural gene to produce a polypeptide. It can refer to transcription or the combination of transcription and translation. Expression generally refers to the transcription of a gene to produce messenger RNA, as used herein expression may refer to the entire process of “expression” of a nucleic acid to produce a polypeptide (e.g., transcription plus translation). If “expression” is used in reference to a polypeptide, it indicates that the polypeptide is being produced via expression of the corresponding nucleic acid.

As used herein, the term “over-expression” and “up-regulation” or “increasing” production of a polypeptide refers to the expression of a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide (e.g., a gene) in a modified cell at higher levels (therefore producing an increased amount of the polypeptide encoded by the gene) as compared to a “wild type” cell (e.g., a substantially equivalent cell that is not modified in the manner of the modified cell) under substantially similar conditions. Thus, to over-express or increase expression of thaxtomin refers to increasing or inducing the production of the thaxtomin dipeptide by one or more enzymes encoded by the thaxtomin biosynthetic genes, which may be done by a variety of approaches, such as, but not limited to: increasing the transcription of the genes (such as by placing the genes under the control of a constitutive promoter) responsible for synthesis of thaxtomin, or increasing the translation of such genes, inhibiting or eliminating a repressor of thaxtomin production (e.g., CebR or β-glucosidase enzyme), or a combination of these and/or other approaches.

Conversely, “under-expression” and “down-regulation” refers to expression of a polynucleotide (e.g., a gene) at lower levels (producing a decreased amount of the polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide) than in a “wild type” cell. As with over-expression, under-expression can occur at different points in the expression pathway, such as by decreasing the number of gene copies encoding for the polypeptide; removing, interrupting, or inhibiting (e.g., decreasing or preventing) transcription and/or translation of the gene (e.g., by the use of antisense nucleotides, suppressors, knockouts, antagonists, etc.), or a combination of such approaches. “Suppression” refers to the inhibition of production and/or activity functional gene product. Thus, the suppression of a gene or protein may indicate that the expression of the gene and/or activity of the encoded peptide has been inhibited such as by transcription and/or translation being inhibited, thus resulting in low to no production of the encoded protein, or production of a non-functional product, or production of an interfering nucleic acid that otherwise suppresses activity of the target protein.

Similarly, with respect to a gene product, such as a protein, “reduced activity” indicates that the activity of the protein is reduced relative to activity in a “wild type cell”. Such reduction in activity can be the result of inhibition/suppression/down-regulation/under-expression of the gene encoding the protein, the result of inhibition of translation of the messenger RNA into a functional gene product, or the result of production of a non-functional protein with reduced or no activity, or the direct suppression of the protein activity (e.g., preventing binding to a target), or the like. “Reduced production” of a gene product (e.g., a protein), such as by suppression, interruption, or other inhibition of transcription or translation, may result in reduced activity, but “reduced activity” of a protein or other gene product may result from other causes other than “reduced production”, such as set for the above.

As used herein, the term “genetically engineered,” with respect to a living organism, refers to an organism that has had its genetic makeup directly manipulated by techniques of biotechnology (as opposed to random changes occurring in nature). Genetically engineered organisms can include mutations involving changes only of the genetically engineered organisms' own genetic material as well as mutations involving insertions of exogenous genetic material, such as insertions resulting in either cisgenic (including exogenous genetic material from the same or a closely related organism) or transgenic (including exogenous genetic material from a non-closely related organism) organisms.

As used herein a “mutation” refers to a heritable change in genetic material, which may include alteration of single base pairs of a nucleic acid, or the deletion, insertion, or rearrangement of larger sections of genes or chromosomes. An “engineered mutation” refers to a mutation created by human design (e.g., the mutation did not spontaneously occur by natural causes and/or was the result of intentional human manipulation). A “genetically modified” organism is an organism whose genetic material has been altered by one or more engineered mutations (e.g., human induced mutations).

Similarly, with respect to genes or other nucleic acids, “silencing” or “deletion” of a gene may include complete deletion of the nucleic acid/gene encoding a target peptide, complete suppression of translation or transcription of the target nucleic acid such that the target peptide is not produced, but the terms may also include some of the methods for “suppression” and “down-regulation” discussed above, where the “suppression” is significant enough to reduce expression of the target gene to the extent that the resulting peptide is inactive or the activity of the resulting peptide is so minimal as to be virtually undetected.

The term “null mutation” refers to a mutation in which the gene product (e.g., the protein encoded by the gene) is either not produced (or produced at significantly reduced levels, so as to be negligible) or is non-functional. Typically, a null mutation will involve a mutation of the native gene, such that the gene is not transcribed into RNA, the RNA product cannot be translated, or the protein produced by gene expression is non-functional.

The term “plasmid” as used herein refers to a non-chromosomal double-stranded DNA sequence including an intact “replicon” such that the plasmid is replicated in a host cell. A plasmid may include exogenous nucleic acid sequences and/or recombinant sequences.

As used herein, the term “vector” or “expression vector” is used in reference to a vehicle used to introduce an exogenous nucleic acid sequence into a cell. A vector may include a DNA molecule, linear or circular, which includes a segment encoding a polypeptide of interest operably linked to additional segments that provide for its transcription and translation upon introduction into a host cell or host cell organelles. Such additional segments may include promoter and terminator sequences, and may also include one or more origins of replication, one or more selectable markers, an enhancer, a polyadenylation signal, etc. As such, expression vectors typically contain recombinant nucleic acid sequences having different sequences linked together to effect expression of a target sequence. Expression vectors are generally derived from yeast DNA, bacterial genomic or plasmid DNA, or viral DNA, or may contain elements of more than one of these.

As used herein, the term “expression system” includes a biologic system (e.g., a cell based system) used to express a polynucleotide to produce a protein. Such systems generally employ a plasmid or vector including the polynucleotide of interest (e.g., an exogenous nucleic acid sequence, a recombinant sequence, etc.), where the plasmid or expression vector is constructed with various elements (e.g., promoters, selectable markers, etc.) to enable expression of the protein product from the polynucleotide. Expression systems use the host system/host cell transcription and translation mechanisms to express the product protein. Common expression systems include, but are not limited to, bacterial expression systems (e.g., E. coli), yeast expression systems, viral expression systems, animal expression systems, and plant expression systems.

As used herein, the term “promoter” or “promoter region” includes all sequences capable of driving transcription of a coding sequence. In particular, the term “promoter” as used herein refers to a DNA sequence generally described as the 5′ regulator region of a gene, located proximal to the start codon. The transcription of an adjacent coding sequence(s) is initiated at the promoter region. The term “promoter” also includes fragments of a promoter that are functional in initiating transcription of the gene.

The term “operably linked” indicates that the regulatory sequences necessary for expression of the coding sequences of a nucleic acid are placed in the nucleic acid molecule in the appropriate positions relative to the coding sequence so as to effect expression of the coding sequence. This same definition is sometimes applied to the arrangement of coding sequences and transcription control elements (e.g. promoters, enhancers, and termination elements), and/or selectable markers in an expression vector.

As used herein, the term “selectable marker” refers to a gene whose expression allows one to identify cells that have been transformed or transfected with a vector containing the marker gene (e.g., by antibiotic resistance on antibiotic medium, fluorescence, color generation, or other detectable signal). For instance, a recombinant nucleic acid may include a selectable marker operably linked to a gene of interest and a promoter, such that expression of the selectable marker indicates the successful transformation of the cell with the gene of interest.

The terms “native,” “wild type”, or “unmodified” in reference to a polypeptide/protein/enzyme, polynucleotide, cell, or organism, are used herein to provide a reference point for a variant/mutant of a polypeptide/protein/enzyme, polynucleotide, cell, or organism prior to its mutation and/or modification/engineering (whether the mutation and/or modification occurred naturally or by human design). On the other hand, “non-native” refers to a polypeptide/protein/enzyme, polynucleotide, cell, or organism that has a sequence or feature not found naturally in that peptide/cell/organism/etc., but that has been genetically engineered/manipulated to have such non-native feature.

As used herein, “thaxtomin” or “thaxtomin compound” refers to one or more compounds from a family of cyclic dipeptide phytotoxins, 4-nitroindol-3-yl-containing 2,5-dioxopiperazines, generated by some species of Streptomyces bacteria (and possibly by other actinomycetes) and exhibiting toxicity to various plant species. Thaxtomin compounds of the present disclosure have the general formula of Formula I below, and variants thereof. At least 5 thaxtomin compounds have been characterized, including thaxtomin A, A ortho analog, B, C, and D, and up to at least 12 different variants identified. Thaxtomin A, the most abundant of the thaxtomins and also believed to be the most physiologically active, has the chemical formula C₂₂H₂₂N₄O₆ (chemical structure illustrated in FIG. 1). The thaxtomins can cause plant cell necrosis of various plant species and can induce the formation of scabs on potato tubers have been isolated from S. scabiei. As used herein “thaxtomin” and “thaxtomin compound” refers generally to any of the members of this chemical group. Much of the discussion of thaxtomin in the present disclosure is in reference to thaxtomin A; however, thaxtomin A may be a precursor to other thaxtomin compounds, and/or the production of thaxtomin A may be interwoven with production of other thaxtomin compounds. Thus, to the extent the methods and compositions of the present disclosure also modulate the production of other thaxtomin compounds or intermediates, this is also intended to fall within the scope of the present disclosure. The general structure of thaxtomin compounds is illustrated in FIG. 1 and the general formula of the family of thaxtomin compounds is shown below as Formula I, where R1 and R3 are independently selected from methyl or H and where R2, R4, R5, and R6 are each independently selected from hydroxyl or H.

The term “thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster” (sometimes also referred to herein as “Thaxtomin A or ThxA gene cluster”) refers to a gene cluster responsible for production of thaxtomins, such as thaxtomin A (ThxA), by an organism. The thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster occurs naturally in some pathogenic Streptomyces species, such as S. scabiei. In pathogenic Streptomyces species, the thaxtomin gene cluster includes genes involved in ThxA production (referred to herein as “thaxtomin genes”), such as, but not limited to, TxtA (SEQ ID NO: 1), TxtB (SEQ ID NO: 3), TxtC (SEQ ID NO: 5), TxtD (SEQ ID NO: 7), TxtE (SEQ ID NO: 9), TxtH (SEQ ID NO: 11), TxtR (SEQ ID NO: 13), which encode the peptides TxtA (SEQ ID NO: 2), TxtB (SEQ ID NO: 4), TxtC (SEQ ID NO: 6), TxtD (SEQ ID NO: 8), TxtE (SEQ ID NO: 10), TxtH (SEQ ID NO: 12), and TxtR (SEQ ID NO: 14), respectively). The sequences listed above are from Streptomyces scabiei and are representative of the ThxA genes of pathogenic Streptomyces species; however, the genes encoding the thaxtomin peptides may vary in different species or in synthetic variants. Thus, in the present disclosure, the genes involved in production of thaxtomin A and the encoded peptides in different species as well as completely synthesized genes/peptides are also intended to be included in the scope of the disclosure, such as polynucleotide sequences having sequence similarity with the sequences above from Streptomyces scabiei and still having the same function (e.g., sequences having about 70% or greater, 80% or greater, 90% or greater, 95% or greater, 99% or greater sequence identity with SEQ ID Nos: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13) and peptide sequences having sequence identity with the peptide sequences from Streptomyces scabiei and still having the same function (e.g., sequences having about 70% or greater, 80% or greater, 90% or greater, 95% or greater, 99% or greater sequence identity with SEQ ID Nos: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14).

The ThxA gene cluster of the present disclosure may include all of the above thaxtomin genes or any subset/variant of these needed to confer a recipient organism with the ability to produce thaxtomin.

In the present disclosure, the term “thaxtomin module” refers to specifically designed groupings of one or more thaxtomin genes (e.g., txtA, txtB) from the thaxtomin gene cluster, where the genes have been regrouped, or “refactored”, such that the thaxtomin genes have been placed under the control (e.g., operably linked) of a promoter that does not require thaxtomin-inducing conditions (e.g., presence of cellobiose or other conventional thaxtomin inducer) to induce expression of the operably linked gene or genes. The regrouping can be such that each gene is in a separate module, or that some or all thaxtomin genes are grouped on a single module, or that the genes are re-grouped on two or more modules. Various configurations of thaxtomin genes and promoters, among one or more modules, are envisioned within the scope of this disclosure. For example, in embodiments, each module is placed under the control of a separate promoter, but in other embodiments, each module may include one or more promoters, each gene may be operably linked to a separate promoter, or all genes and modules may be linked to the same promoter, and the like. For instance, in some embodiments discussed below, several genes from the thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster were refactored (e.g., rearranged/regrouped) into 3 different functionally distinct modules, and each module was separately controlled by its own promoter. As used herein, the terms “module 1,” “module 2,” and “module 3” refer to refactored gene clusters from the thaxtomin gene cluster. In embodiments, module 1 includes txtE and txtD; module 2 includes txt A, txtB, and txtH; module 3 includes txtC; and each module is under the control of a separate promoter. In some embodiments, module 1 includes txtE and txtD; module 2 includes txt A and txtB; module 3 includes txtC; and each module is under the control of a separate promoter. The new modules can be joined together to form a partial or complete “refactored thaxtomin gene cluster” (e.g., in the refactored thaxtomin gene cluster, the genes can be in a different order than in the native thaxtomin gene cluster and are under different controls than in the native gene cluster).

The term “toxogenic region (TR)”, refers to a mobile genomic island in some Streptomyces species that can include “toxogenic region 1 (TR1)”, that includes the thaxtomin A biosynthetic cluster, described above, and typically confers pathogenicity, and also includes “toxogenic region 2 (TR2)” that includes integrative and conjugative elements that can mobilize itself (TR2) or an entire TR element (e.g., TR1 and TR2) between species (e.g., between pathogenic and non-pathogenic species) as described in greater detail below).

The terms “thaxtomin-inducing conditions” indicates certain environmental conditions (e.g., natural or cell culture conditions) known to induce thaxtomin production in wild-type Streptomyces bacterial species known to be capable of thaxtomin production (e.g., native thaxtomin producers). For instance, wild type Streptomyces are induced to produce thaxtomin in the presence of certain products of cellulose degradation, such as, but not limited to, cellobiose, as well as xylan-degradation products (Wach et al. 2007), such as, but not limited to suberin (Lauzier et al. 2008). In embodiments, “thaxtomin-inducing conditions” may include specific conditions or cell culture media (such as but not limited to, Oat Bran Broth (OBB), Oat Bran Agar (OBA), etc.) known to induce thaxtomin production in cell culture of wild-type Streptomyces species (such as, but not limited to S. scabiei, S. acidiscabies, and S. turgidiscabies). In embodiments, “thaxtomin-inducing conditions” may also include a standard cell culture growth medium supplemented with a known thaxtomin-inducing compound, such as, but not limited to cellobiose.

Discussion

In accordance with the purpose(s) of the present disclosure, as embodied and broadly described herein, embodiments of the present disclosure, in some aspects, relate to genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria from a naturally non-pathogenic Streptomyces species capable of increased thaxtomin production, genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria with non-native thaxtomin pathogenicity clusters capable of producing thaxtomin in the absence of the inducer cellobiose and capable of producing the same or a greater amount of thaxtomin than S. scabiei, under the same conditions, and thaxtomin and thaxtomin intermediates produced by the methods of the present disclosure.

Herbicides play an important role in agricultural production all over the world. However, wide applications of various herbicides have incurred herbicide resistance among weeds. Regardless of the need for new herbicides with new mechanisms of action, no herbicides acting on new targets have been commercialized in recent decades. It is therefore important to develop new herbicides with novel modes of action. One potential source of new herbicides is phytopathogenic bacterial species.

Streptomyces is a very large genus of filamentous Gram-positive, high G+C content bacteria that are mostly saprophytes and best known for the production of pharmaceutically- and agriculturally-important secondary metabolites, including two-thirds of currently-used antibiotics (Hopwood 2007, Bentley et al. 2002). Although several hundred species are known to date, only about ten are known to be phytopathogenic (Loria et al. 2006). The best characterized pathogens are Streptomyces scabiei, S. acidiscabies, S. turgidiscabies and S. ipomoeae, which cause raised or pitted scab lesions on economically-important root and tuber crops like potato, radish, beet, peanut, and sweet potato, but not rice. The primary virulence determinant of S. scabiei, S. acidiscabies and S. turgidiscabies is the phytotoxin thaxtomin A (Loria et al. 2008). Thaxtomin A (compound 1, FIG. 1) was initially isolated in 1989 and is the most abundant member of the family that comprises 10 other natural analogs (FIG. 1). Thaxtomin A (1) exhibits excellent potency (in an nM range) in inhibiting cellulose biosynthesis.

Thaxtomin A (and other toxic thaxtomin compounds) primarily targets the cell wall in dividing and expanding plant cells through an alteration of expression of cell wall biosynthesis-related genes and depletion of cellulose synthase complexes from the plasma membrane. This causes extensive cell wall remodeling, characterized by reduced incorporation of crystalline cellulose into the plant cell wall, and is compensated by an increased amount of pectins and hemicelluloses (Scheible et al. 2003; Bischoff et al. 2009). Thaxtomin A's herbicidal mode and biodegradable property have led to extensive attention to develop thaxtomins as novel green herbicides. It is member of a family of nitrated 2,5-diketopiperazines formed by non-ribosomal peptide synthases out of the main components tryptophan, phenylalanine and nitric oxide derived from arginine (Loria et al. 2008; Barry et al. 2012), with 11 members of the family differing only in the presence or absence of hydroxyl and N-methyl groups at specific sites. FIG. 1 illustrates the structure of thaxtomin A as well as other thaxtomin analogues.

The biosynthesis of ThxA involves two nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) encoded by the txtA and txtB genes, a P450 monooxygenase (TxtC), a nitric oxide synthase (TxtD), and a novel cytochrome P450 (TxtE) that site specifically nitrates tryptophan prior to cyclization (Bignell et al. 2014b). The thaxtomin biosynthetic cluster also contains a txtH gene encoding a 65-amino-acid MbtH-like protein potentially regulating NRPS activity (Herbst et al. 2013; Stegmann et al. 2006). The production of thaxtomin A is typically under strict controls, including both the pathway-specific transcriptional activator TxtR (Joshi et al. 2007) and global regulators belonging to the bld gene family (Bignell et al. 2014a) and the cellulose utilization repressor CebR (Francis et al. 2015). This group of genes, called the thaxtomin A biosynthetic gene cluster, resides on a portion of a mobile genomic island in pathogenic Streptomyces species, known as toxogenic region 1 (TR1). Many Streptomyces species also include another toxogenic region (TR2) that has integrative and conjunctive elements and has the ability to mobilize TR2 alone or the whole TR element between Streptomyces species as described in Zhang & Loria 2016 (“Emergence of Novel Pathogenic Streptomyces Species by Site-Specific Accretion and cis-Mobilization of Pathogenicity Islands”, December 2016) and Zhang, et al. 2016 (“Promiscuous Pathogenicity Islands and Phylogeny of Pathogenic Streptomyces spp.” July 2016), both of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

Data have shown that thaxtomin provokes the same effects on plants, qualitatively as well as quantitatively, as the synthetic cellulose biosynthesis inhibitor isoxaben, making thaxtomin an excellent candidate as a natural herbicide (Heim et al. 1990; Bischoff et al. 2009). The biological properties of this novel phytotoxin raised an interest in using thaxtomin as a biological compound to control weeds (Marrone Bio Innovations 2009, 2010; Novozymes Biologicals 2011, 2012). However, thaxtomin production in wild type Streptomyces requires specialized cell culture media (such as media supplemented with cellobiose or other thaxtomin-inducing compounds), which can be expensive. Several chemical methods have also been investigated to synthesize thaxtomins using multiple steps with mild to moderate yields. (see King, R. R. 1997; Molesworth, P. et al., 2010, Zhang, H., et al., 2013; and Zhang, et al., 2015.) For instance, the Ugi reaction was used to synthesize thaxtomin A in a one-pot reaction (Bourgault, J. P., et al., 2014), but only a racemic mixture that contains both enantiomers was obtained.

Streptomyces scabies is the best studied producer of thaxtomins. However, the isolation yield of thaxtomin A from its culture is as low as several mg/L in cellobiose-containing liquid media even after extensive optimization efforts, which severely limits the wide application of thaxtomins in agriculture. Thus, these methods of production of thaxtomin in wild type Steptomyces, such as S. scabiei, are insufficient. The authors of the present disclosure previously demonstrated mobilization of the thaxtomin biosynthetic cluster of S. scabiei into non-pathogenic Streptomyces species to enable the heterologous production of thaxtomin in the non-pathogenic species, which is described in greater detail in U.S. provisional patent application No. 62/509,792, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Many of the recipient Streptomyces spp. that produced thaxtomin upon the acquisition of the thaxtomin cluster produced it in the same or lower amounts than S. scabiei, indicating that the genetic backgrounds of recipients affect the thaxtomin production considerably. However, at least one strain, S. albus J1074, when engineered to include the thaxtomin biosynthetic cluster from S. scabiei, produced the same or greater amounts of thaxtomins in comparison to S. scabiei. However, even these methods of production of thaxtomins in the non-native, non-pathogenic Streptomyces species by acquisition of the thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster still require the presence of specialized growth media with expensive inducers, such as cellobiose, to achieve a significant yield.

The present disclosure provides genetically engineered, non-native Streptomyces bacteria with the ability to produce thaxtomin compounds in species that do not naturally produce thaxtomin and are not naturally pathogenic to plants, where thaxtomin is produced without the need for costly inducers, such as cellobiose. In embodiments, the present disclosure provides genetically engineered bacteria capable of producing thaxtomin without cellobiose as well as methods to produce thaxtomin in non-native species and at greater amounts than in wild type, native, thaxtomin-producing Steptomyces, such as S. scabiei, as well as methods for producing thaxtomin using such genetically modified bacteria.

As mentioned above, the biosynthetic gene cluster of thaxtomin includes seven genes (txtA, txtB, txtC, txtD, txtE, txtH, and txtR, e.g., SEQ ID NOs: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13, respectively) encoding the following 7 proteins: two P450s (TxtC and TxtE, e.g., SEQ ID NOs: 6 and 10, respectively), two nonribosomal peptide synthetases (TxtA and TxtB, e.g., SEQ ID NOs: 2 and 4, respectively), one MbtH-like protein (TxtH, e.g., SEQ ID NO: 12), one positive regulator (TxtR, e.g., SEQ ID NO: 14) and one nitric oxide synthase (TxtD, e.g., SEQ ID NO: 8). The systems and methods of the present disclosure include refactoring the thaxtomin gene cluster, or portions of this cluster, into one or more modules under the control of one or more promoters that are not under the control of a natural thaxtomin inducer, such as, but not limited to cellobiose. In the present disclosure, the one or more promoters controlling expression of one or more thaxtomin genes in the refactored thaxtomin gene cluster can be but are not limited to, constitutive promoters or inducible promoters, where such inducible promoters are induced by compounds that are more readily available and/or less expensive than conventional thaxtomin inducers, such as cellobiose.

As described in greater detail in the Examples below, in an embodiment, this gene cluster was refactored into three functionally distinct modules, and the expression of each module was individually controlled by one or more separate promoters, as illustrated in FIG. 2 and FIG. 7A. The modules were used to transform (e.g., in a plasmid or other transformation vector) a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain which was then screened for expression of thaxtomins from the refactored gene cluster. Many Streptomyces strains, such as, for example, S. albus J1074, have demonstrated the capability to express heterologous gene clusters of natural products and can be suitable for the production of thaxtomins from the refactored gene cluster. S. albus J1074 has been used as a synthetic biology chassis to express natural product gene clusters from other gram-positive actinomycetes and contains ferredoxin and ferredoxin reductase to support the reactions of P450s. (see, e.g., Zaburannyi, N., et al., 2014; Bilyk, O., et al., 2016; and Feng, Z. et al., 2009).

Thus, as described in more detail in the discussion and the examples below, the present disclosure includes genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium from non-pathogenic species that have been genetically engineered to express an exogenous, refactored thaxtomin gene cluster from a pathogenic Streptomyces strain and are capable of producing thaxtomin A in the absence of conventional thaxtomin-inducing conditions (e.g., cellobiose-containing media). Also provided are refactored thaxtomin gene clusters capable of providing a transformed non-pathogenic Streptomyces cell with the ability to produce thaxtomin A in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions. The present disclosure also provides methods of providing cellobiose-independent thaxtomin-producing capability in non-native Streptomyces bacterium that are naturally non-pathogenic, and methods of making the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium. Additionally, the present disclosure provides methods of producing thaxtomin compounds by culturing the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria of the present disclosure in cellobiose-free media.

Refactored Thaxtomin Biosynthetic Gene Cluster

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster for enabling a transformed bacterial cell to produce generous amounts of thaxtomin A and/or other thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions like expensive inducers, such as cellobiose. In embodiments, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene clusters of the present disclosure include one or more thaxtomin modules under the control of one or more promoters that do not require thaxtomin-inducing conditions (e.g., conditions known to induce thaxtomin production in native producers). If there are more than one module, they may be, but are not required to be, physically linked together. There is no absolute need to directly link two modules together. In this regard, the modules can be expressed in different vectors, or be integrated into different locations of the bacterial chromosome. Whether or not the modules are physically linked and under the control of the same or different or multiple promoters, together the modules form the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster. Each thaxtomin module includes one or more thaxtomin genes from a thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster from a pathogenic Streptomyces bacteria. For instance, each module may include, but is not necessarily limited to, one or more (but not necessarily all) of the following thaxtomin genes: txtA, txtB, txtC, txtD, txtE, and txt H. The thaxtomin genes in the modules for the refactored thaxtomin gene cluster may be isolated from a thaxtomin-producing organism or they may be partially or completely chemically synthesized. In embodments, the thaxtomin genes may include one or more of the following sequences: SEQ ID NOs: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13. In some embodiments, the thaxtomin genes from each module are different from the other module, such that together the modules do not contain multiple copies of thaxtomin genes. However, in other embodiments, multiple copies of one or more of the above thaxtomin genes may be included in the one or more modules in order to increase gene dosage such that there is higher production of that thaxtomin compound.

In embodiments, the thaxtomin genes are included in the modules, or the refactored gene cluster as a whole, in a different order than in a wild type thaxtomin producing bacterium, such as S. scabiei. In embodiments, each module has its own promoter operably linked to the one or more thaxtomin genes, so that each module is under independent control of a separate promoter. In other embodiments, each module can be controlled by more than one promoter and/or if more than one thaxtomin gene is in the module, expression of each thaxtomin gene in the module may be under the control of the same promoter, or each may be under the control of a different promoter. For instance, the thaxtomin gene clusters illustrated in FIG. 2 and the top gene cluster in FIG. 7A illustrate 2 or 3 linked thaxtomin, where each module is under the control of a different promoter. The bottom refactored gene cluster in FIG. 7A illustrates 3 modules, where module 3 and module 2 are each under control of a separate promoter, and module 3 has two promoters, each driving expression of a different thaxtomin gene within the module. In yet other embodiments, the modules may be linked together and all under the combined control of a single promoter. Thus various combinations of modules and promoters are envisioned, so long as the thaxtomin genes in the resulting refactored thaxtomin gene cluster can be expressed in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions (such as, but not limited to, the presence of cellobiose). The promoter for each module can be the same promoter or different. In embodiments, a constitutive promoter is used for one or more of the thaxtomin modules.

In embodiments, each promoter is independently selected from promoters including, but not limited to: P1, P6, P7, P8, P9, P10, P11, P13, P20, P23, P24, P28, P31, Ksaop*, and P6E-PID (SEQ ID NOs: 15-29, respectively). In embodiments, the promoter is P6 (SEQ ID NO: 16), P24 (SEQ ID NO: 25), or P1 (SEQ ID NO: 15) promoter from S. albus J1074, or a combination thereof. In embodiments, the promoters can be selected from promoters having sequence similarity with the sequences SEQ ID NOs: 15-29 from Streptomyces albus J1074 and still having the same function (e.g., sequences having about 70% or greater, 80% or greater, 90% or greater, 95% or greater, 99% or greater sequence identity with SEQ ID NOs: 15-29).

FIG. 2 illustrates embodiments of two refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene clusters of the present disclosure, one including 3 modules, which together include the thaxtomin biosynthetic genes txtA, txtB, txtC, txtD, txtE, and txtH (not in that order), and the other module including two modules and lacking the thaxtomin biosynthetic gene txtC. In FIG. 2, module 1 includes txtE and txtD, module 2 includes txtA, txtB, and txtH, and module 2 includes txtC. In another embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, a refactored thaxtomin gene cluster includes only modules 1 and 2 and excludes module 3, thereby excluding txtC (this embodiment is sometimes referred to herein as a “partially refactored thaxtomin gene cluster”). Similarly, in FIG. 7A, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene clusters include module 1 including txtE and txtD, module 2 including txtA, txtB, and txtH, and module 2 including txtC. In the embodiments illustrated in FIG. 2 and FIG. 7A each module is under the control of at least one promoter, where each promoter may be the same or different. In embodiments, a refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of the present disclosure includes at least two thaxtomin modules: a first module, module 1, including a txtE and a txtD biosynthetic gene and a second module, module 2, including a txtA, a txtB, and txtH biosynthetic gene. In some embodiments, the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of the present disclosure includes a third module, module 3, comprising a txtC biosynthetic gene.

In embodiments of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene clusters of the present disclosure, at least two thaxtomin modules are linked to form a refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster such that expression of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster produces at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions. The independent promoters for each module are not dependent on induction by thaxtomin inducers (e.g., cellobiose) and are thus able to induce thaxtomin production without the presence of such inducers. In embodiments, the promoters may be constitutive promoters or may be specifically inducible promoters, where promotion is induced by an activity or compound other than one conventionally associated with thaxtomin induction.

In embodiments, the expression of a refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of the present disclosure produces at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions. In embodiments, the thaxtomin compound includes thaxtomin A. In embodiments, the thaxtomin compound includes ortho-thaxtomin A or other intermediates or analogs of thaxtomin A, such as thaxtomin D (see FIG. 1). In some embodiments, an intermediate or analog of thaxtomin A includes compounds such as illustrated in FIG. 1, including, but not limited to: thaxtomin D, nitro-tryptophans such as 4-nitro-tryptophan, N-methyl-4-nitrotryptophan, and N-acetyl-4-nitrotryptophan. The present disclosure also includes plasmids or other transformation vectors including the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of the present disclosure.

Genetically Modified Bacteria

Embodiments of the present disclosure include genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium including a Streptomyces bacterium from a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain (e.g., Streptomyces strain that, in its native, unmodified form, does not produce thaxtomin and is not pathogenic to plants), that has been engineered to have and express an exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of the present disclosure such that the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions. As discussed above, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene clusters of the present disclosure include one or more thaxtomin modules, each module including one or more thaxtomin genes from a thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster from a pathogenic Streptomyces bacteria, and one or more promoters, as described above. In embodiments, the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium include two or more thaxtomin modules, and the thaxtomin genes in each module are different from the thaxtomin genes in the other module(s). In embodiments, each module has its own promoter and is independently controlled, and the promoter for each module may be the same or different (e.g., both may be constitutive promoters (same or different type), one may be constitutive and one may be inducible, both may be inducible, etc.).

The presence of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster in the modified genome of the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium provides the naturally non-pathogenic strain with the ability to produce one or more thaxtomin compounds (e.g., thaxtomin A), unlike corresponding wild type strains of the bacterium. The refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster is configured such that expression provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium not only with the ability to produce the desired thaxtomin compound(s), but to produce them in the absence of conventional thaxtomin-inducing conditions (e.g., cellobiose-containing media). Thus, although a wild-type version of this non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain without the exogenous refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster does not have the ability to produce thaxtomin, with or without inducers, the genetically engineered strain that harbors the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster, can express the thaxtomin genes in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions and thus produce thaxtomin compounds.

In embodiments, the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium produces about the same or a greater amount of thaxtomin in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions than S. scabiei produces in the presence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions. Thus, in some conditions the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of the present disclosure “overproduces” thaxtomin, as compared to a wild-type, thaxtomin producing, pathogenic species, such as S. scabiei.

In embodiments, thaxtomin-inducing conditions include conditions conventionally known to induce thaxtomin production and/or expression of genes in the thaxtomin production pathway. In embodiments thaxtomin-inducing conditions include the presence of certain inducers, such as, but not limited to, cellobiose, other cellulose degradation products, suberin, and other xylan-degradation products. In embodiments, thaxtomin-inducing conditions can also include cell culture media known to induce thaxtomin production in pathogenic Streptomyces strains such as but not limited to, Oat Bran Broth (OBB) and Oat Bran Agar (OBA), etc. In embodiments, thaxtomin inducing conditions include media containing cellobiose, suberin, or other thaxtomin inducer. In embodiments, the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions refers to the absence of cellobiose or other inducer in the culture media of the cells.

In embodiments the thaxtomin genes in the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster are from a pathogenic Streptomyces strain including, but not limited to, Streptomyces scabiei, Streptomyces acidiscabies, and Streptomyces turgidiscabies. In embodiments, the Streptomyces bacterium from a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain can be, but is not limited to, one of the following strains: S. albus, S. coelicolor, S. diastatochromogenes, and S. avermitilis. In embodiments, the non-pathogenic bacteria may be from a different gram positive bacterial species, such as Norcardia, or other species compatible with receipt of the ThxA biosynthetic cluster from the pathogenic Streptomyces species. In embodiments, the pathogenic Streptomyces strain is S. scabiei and the non-pathogenic strain is S. albus J1074.

In order to select for successful integration of the exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster into the genome of the recipient non-pathogenic Streptomyces bacteria, in embodiments, the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster is operably linked to a nucleotide encoding a selectable marker. Thus, in such embodiments, the expression of the selectable marker indicates integration and expression of the thaxtomin genes in the refactored gene cluster. In embodiments, the selectable marker is antibiotic resistance (e.g., apramycin resistance, hygromycin B resistance, etc.), such as known to those of skill in the art, and described in greater detail in the examples below.

Methods of Providing Thaxtomin-production in Non-native Streptomyces in the Absence of Thaxtomin-inducing Conditions

The present disclosure also provides methods of providing thaxtomin-producing capability in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions in a non-native Streptomyces bacterium (or other Actinomycete capable of receiving and integrating the thaxtomin gene cluster into its genome). In embodiments, such methods include providing a Streptomyces bacterium from a naturally non-pathogenic species that does not produce thaxtomin and genetically engineering the bacterium to include an exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster that confers the ability to product thaxtomin in the absence of thaxtomin inducing conditions. In embodiments, the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster, as described above, includes one or more thaxtomin modules which may or may not be linked together, and together form the thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster.

As described above, the one or more thaxtomin modules each include: one or more thaxtomin genes from a thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster from a pathogenic Streptomyces bacteria and one or more promoters operably linked to the one or more thaxtomin genes. In embodiments, there are two or more thaxtomin modules and the thaxtomin genes in each module are different from those in the other module. However, it is envisioned that in some embodiments, multiple copies of one or more of the thaxtomin genes could be included among the thaxtomin modules, since an increase in gene copy can result in increased production. As described above, in embodiments, the promoter for each module can be the same or different, and in embodiments is a constitutive promoter. The arrangement of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions. The refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster and its modules can be as described above, and the one or more thaxtomin compounds produced can be, but are not limited to, thaxtomin A, thaxtomin D, and other thaxtomin intermediates and/or analogs.

In embodiments, genetically engineering the Streptomyces bacterium to include an exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster includes providing a genetically engineered thaxtomin plasmid having the exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster and a nucleic acid encoding a selectable marker operably linked to the exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster. The naturally non-pathogenic Streptomyces bacterium can be transformed with the genetically engineered thaxtomin plasmid (or other transformation vector) to provide the transformed bacterium with the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of the present disclosure. Successful transformants can be identified and selected, thereby providing the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of the present disclosure that is capable of producing a thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions.

In embodiments, the process of transforming the bacterial cells with the thaxtomin plasmid can be done using methods known to those of skill in the art. Such methods are intended to be included in the scope of the present application. Then the selectable marker can be used to selecting for transformants that harbor the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster. Additional methods (such as PCR) can be used to confirm integration of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster into a genome of the naturally non-pathogenic Streptomyces bacterium. The resulting genetically engineered transformants express the thaxtomin genes in the modules included in the refactored gene cluster and are able to produce one or more thaxtomin compounds, such as, but not limited to thaxtomin A. In embodiments, the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium made according to the methods of the present disclosure are able to produce about as much or more thaxtomin in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions than a wild type pathogenic species can produce in the presence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions.

In the various methods described herein, in embodiments, the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster is from a pathogenic Streptomyces strain including, but not limited to, Streptomyces scabiei, Streptomyces acidiscabies, and Streptomyces turgidiscabies. In embodiments, the Streptomyces bacterium from a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain can be, but is not limited to, one of the following strains: S. albus, S. coelicolor, S. diastatochromogenes, and S. avermitilis. As mentioned above, in some embodiments the non-pathogenic recipient bacterial species is another non-pathogenic species compatible with transformation with and expression of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster including thaxtomin genes from a pathogenic Streptomyces strain, such as, but not limited to Norcardia. In embodiments, the pathogenic Streptomyces strain is S. scabiei and the non-pathogenic strain is S. albus J1074.

The present disclosure also includes genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium produced by the methods described in the present disclosure.

Methods of Producing Thaxtomin

The present disclosure also includes methods of producing thaxtomin. Embodiments of such methods include culturing the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria described above, so that the modified Streptomyces bacteria produce thaxtomin in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions (e.g., in the presence of cellobiose or other known thaxtomin inducer). In the methods of producing thaxtomin of the present disclosure, the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria exhibit about the same or increased production of thaxtomin compound as compared to a wild type Streptomyces scabiei bacteria and, unlike wild type S. scabiei, are able to produce thaxtomin in the absence of cellobiose-containing media. As described above, in some embodiments of the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria of the present invention produce thaxtomin in environmental conditions (e.g., standard growth medium) where the native or wild type Streptomyces bacteria would not be able to produce thaxtomin or may only produce trace amounts. In embodiments of the methods of the present disclosure for producing thaxtomin, the thaxtomin produced by the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria of the present disclosure is collected and/or extracted from the cell culture. After collection/extraction of the thaxtomin from the cell culture, the thaxtomin may be further extracted/separated from the culture media, and/or the extracted thaxtomin may then be subject to further isolation and/or purification steps as needed or desired. In embodiments, the thaxtomin compound produced is thaxtomin A. In embodiments, the methods of the present disclosure can product more than one thaxtomin compound. In embodiments, the thaxtomin compound can include, but is not limited to, thaxtomin A, thaxtomin D, and other thaxtomin analogues and intermediates.

The isolated and/or purified thaxtomin compound produced by the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria of the present disclosure can then be used for various purposes, such as in the production of certain herbicides. Thus, the methods of the present disclosure also include methods of making herbicides including thaxtomin by producing thaxtomin according to the methods of the present disclosure and using the thaxtomin to produce the herbicide. The present disclosure also includes thaxtomin compounds produced by the methods of the present disclosure described above.

Methods of Producing Thaxtomin Intermediates and/or Analogues

The present disclosure also includes methods of producing thaxtomin intermediates or analogues. In embodiments, the thaxtomin analog or intermediate includes compounds such as, but not limited to: ortho-thaxtomin A, thaxtomin D, and nitro-tryptophans, such as, but not limited to 4-nitro-tryptophan, N-methyl-4-nitrotryptophan, and N-acetyl-4-nitrotryptophan (FIG. 1).

In embodiments, methods of producing the thaxtomin analog, thaxtomin D (and possibly other thaxtomin analogs and/or intermediates) include the methods set forth above for genetically engineering a Streptomyces bacteria from a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions where the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster includes one or more thaxtomin modules including thaxtomin genes, but where no module includes a txtC biosynthetic gene. In embodiments, the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster includes a first module, module 1, including a txtE and a txtD biosynthetic gene and a promoter, and a second module, module 2, including a txtA, a txtB, and txtH biosynthetic gene and a promoter, and wherein neither thaxtomin module includes a txtC biosynthetic gene. The thaxtomin modules are linked to form a refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster such that expression of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce at least one thaxtomin compound analog or intermediate in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions. In embodiments, the thaxtomin compound analog or intermediate is thaxtomin D.

The refactored thaxtomin gene cluster, genetically modified bacteria of the present disclosure, methods of increasing thaxtomin compounds in Streptomyces bacteria, methods of producing thaxtomin without inducers, and thaxtomin and thaxtomin intermediates produced by methods of the present disclosure are described in greater detail in the following examples.

Additional details regarding the methods, compositions, and organisms of the present disclosure are provided in the Examples below. The specific examples below are to be construed as merely illustrative, and not limitative of the remainder of the disclosure in any way whatsoever. Without further elaboration, it is believed that one skilled in the art can, based on the description herein, utilize the present disclosure to its fullest extent. All publications recited herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

It should be emphasized that the embodiments of the present disclosure, particularly, any “preferred” embodiments, are merely possible examples of the implementations, merely set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiment(s) of the disclosure without departing substantially from the spirit and principles of the disclosure. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure, and protected by the following claims.

The following examples are put forth so as to provide those of ordinary skill in the art with a complete disclosure and description of how to perform the methods and use the compositions and compounds disclosed herein. Efforts have been made to ensure accuracy with respect to numbers (e.g., amounts, temperature, etc.), but some errors and deviations should be accounted for. Unless indicated otherwise, parts are parts by weight, temperature is in ° C., and pressure is at or near atmospheric. Standard temperature and pressure are defined as 20° C. and 1 atmosphere.

It should be noted that ratios, concentrations, amounts, and other numerical data may be expressed herein in a range format. It is to be understood that such a range format is used for convenience and brevity, and thus, should be interpreted in a flexible manner to include not only the numerical values explicitly recited as the limits of the range, but also to include all the individual numerical values or sub-ranges encompassed within that range as if each numerical value and sub-range is explicitly recited. To illustrate, a concentration range of “about 0.1% to about 5%” should be interpreted to include not only the explicitly recited concentration of about 0.1 wt % to about 5 wt %, but also include individual concentrations (e.g., 1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%) and the sub-ranges (e.g., 0.5%, 1.1%, 2.2%, 3.3%, and 4.4%) within the indicated range. In an embodiment, the term “about” can include traditional rounding according to significant figures of the numerical value. In addition, the phrase “about ‘x’ to ‘y’” includes “about ‘x’ to about ‘y’”.

Aspects

The following listing of exemplary aspects supports and is supported by the disclosure provided herein.

Aspect 1. A genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium comprising: a Streptomyces bacterium from a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain, the Streptomyces bacterium comprising an exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprising at least two thaxtomin modules, each module comprising: one or more thaxtomin genes from a thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster from a pathogenic Streptomyces strain, and one or more promoters operably linked to the one or more thaxtomin genes, wherein the at least two thaxtomin modules represent a refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster such that expression of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions, wherein the non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain without the refactored thaxtomin cluster does not have the ability to produce the thaxtomin compound.

Aspect 2. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of aspect 1, wherein the at least two thaxtomin modules comprise: a first module, module 1, comprising a txtE and a txtD biosynthetic gene and a second module, module 2, comprising a txtA, a txtB, and txtH biosynthetic gene.

Aspect 3. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of aspect 2, further comprising a third module, module 3, comprising a txtC biosynthetic gene.

Aspect 4. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of aspect 3, wherein the at least one thaxtomin compound comprises thaxtomin A.

Aspect 5. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of any of aspects 1-4, wherein the one or more promoters for each module can be the same or different.

Aspect 6. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of any of aspects 1-5, wherein the promoter for each module is a constitutive promoter or inducible promoter.

Aspect 7. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of any of aspects 1-6, wherein the at least one thaxtomin compound comprises thaxtomin A.

Aspect 8. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of any of aspects 2, 5, or 6 wherein none of the thaxtomin modules comprise txtC and wherein the at least one thaxtomin compound comprises thaxtomin D.

Aspect 9. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of any of aspects 1-8, wherein the pathogenic Streptomyces strain is selected from the group of plant pathogenic Streptomyces species consisting of: Streptomyces scabiei, Streptomyces acidiscabies, and Streptomyces turgidiscabies.

Aspect 10. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of any of aspects 1-9, wherein the plant pathogenic Streptomyces species is S. scabiei 87.22 or other strain of S. scabiei.

Aspect 11. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of any of aspects 1-10, wherein the Streptomyces bacterium from a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain is selected from species of S. albus.

Aspect 12. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of any of aspects 1-11, wherein the Streptomyces bacterium from a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain is S. albus J1074.

Aspect 13. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of any of aspects 1-12, wherein the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster is operably linked to a nucleotide sequence encoding at least one selectable marker.

Aspect 14. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of aspect 13, wherein the selectable marker is antibiotic resistance.

Aspect 15. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of any of aspects 1-14, wherein the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium produces about the same or a greater amount of thaxtomin in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions than S. scabiei produces in the presence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions.

Aspect 16. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of any of aspects 1-15, wherein thaxtomin-inducing conditions comprises media containing cellobiose.

Aspect 17. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of any of aspects 1-16, wherein the at least two thaxtomin modules are linked.

Aspect 18. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of any of aspects 1-18, wherein the thaxtomin genes in each module are different from the other module.

Aspect 19. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of any of aspects 1-18, wherein the one or more promoter for each module is independently selected from the group of constitutive promoters consisting of: P1, P6, P7, P8, P9, P10, P11, P13, P20, P23, P24, P28, P31, Ksaop*, and P6E-PID.

Aspect 20. A refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprising: one or more thaxtomin modules, each module comprising: one or more thaxtomin genes from a thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster from a pathogenic Streptomyces bacteria, wherein if the thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprises only one thaxtomin module, that thaxtomin module comprises two or more thaxtomin genes, and one or more promoters operably linked to the one or more thaxtomin genes, wherein the one or more thaxtomin modules form a refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster such that expression of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster produces at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions.

Aspect 21. The refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of aspect 20, comprising at least two thaxtomin modules: a first module, module 1, comprising a txtE and a txtD biosynthetic gene, and a second module, module 2, comprising a txtA, a txtB, and txtH biosynthetic gene.

Aspect 22. The refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of aspect 21, further comprising a third module, module 3, comprising a txtC biosynthetic gene.

Aspect 23. The refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of any of aspects 20-22, wherein each module comprises one or more promoters, one or more ribosomal binding site, and one or more terminators, wherein the promoter for each module can be the same or different.

Aspect 24. The refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of any of aspects 20-23, wherein at least one of the thaxtomin modules comprises two or more thaxtomin genes and two or more promoters, wherein expression of each of the two or more thaxtomin genes is driven by a separate promoter.

Aspect 25. The refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of any of aspects 20-24, wherein the promoter for each module is a constitutive promoter or an inducible promoter.

Aspect 26. The refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of any of aspects 20-25, wherein the at least one thaxtomin compound comprises thaxtomin A.

Aspect 27. The refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of any of aspects 20, 21, or 23-25, wherein none of the thaxtomin modules comprise txtC and wherein the at least one thaxtomin compound comprises thaxtomin D.

Aspect 28. The refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of aspect 21, wherein module 1 comprises a first promoter to drive expression of txtE and second promoter to drive expression of txtD.

Aspect 29. The refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of aspect 21, wherein module 1 is under the control of a stronger constitutive promoter than any other module.

Aspect 30. One or more plasmids that together comprise the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster of any of aspects 20-29, wherein the plasmid is self-replicable or integrative.

Aspect 31. A method of providing a genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium capable of producing thaxtomin compounds in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions, the method comprising: providing a Streptomyces bacterium from a naturally non-pathogenic species that does not produce thaxtomin; and genetically engineering the Streptomyces bacterium to include an exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprising one or more thaxtomin modules that form the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster, each thaxtomin module comprising: one or more thaxtomin genes from a thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster from a pathogenic Streptomyces bacteria, and one or more promoters operably linked to the one or more thaxtomin genes in the one or more modules, wherein the exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions.

Aspect 32. The method of aspect 31, wherein genetically engineering the Streptomyces bacterium to include an exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprises: providing one or more genetically engineered plasmids together comprising the exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster and a nucleic acid encoding a selectable marker operably linked to the exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster; transforming the naturally non-pathogenic Streptomyces bacterium with the genetically engineered plasmid; and selecting for transformants using the selectable marker to provide genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium capable of producing a thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions.

Aspect 33. The method of aspect 31 or 32, wherein the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium produces about the same or a greater amount of thaxtomin compounds in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing than S. scabiei produces in the presence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions.

Aspect 34. A genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium produced by the method of any of aspects 31-33.

Aspect 35. A method of producing a thaxtomin compound, the method comprising: culturing genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria from a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions, the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium comprising an exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprising one or more thaxtomin modules, each module comprising: one or more thaxtomin genes from a thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster from a pathogenic Streptomyces bacteria, and one or more promoters operably linked to the one or more thaxtomin genes, wherein the one or more thaxtomin modules form a refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster such that expression of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions.

Aspect 36. The method of aspect 35, further comprising extracting the thaxtomin compound from the culture medium.

Aspect 37. The method of any of aspects 35-36, wherein culturing the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions comprises culturing the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria in a culture medium that does not contain cellobiose.

Aspect 38. A method of producing a thaxtomin compound analog or intermediate, the method comprising: culturing genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria from a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions, the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium comprising an exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprising one or more thaxtomin modules, wherein the one or more thaxtomin modules comprise a txtE, a txtD a txtA, a txtB, and a txtH biosynthetic gene and one or more promoters operably linked to the biosynthetic genes, wherein the biosynthetic gene cluster does not comprise a txtC biosynthetic gene, and the thaxtomin modules form a refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster such that expression of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce at least one thaxtomin compound analog or intermediate in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions.

Aspect 39. The method of aspect 38, wherein the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprises at least two separate thaxtomin modules: a first module, module 1, comprising a txtE and a txtD biosynthetic gene, at least one promoter, at least one ribosomal binding site, and at least one terminator, and a second module, module 2, comprising a txtA, a txtB, and txtH biosynthetic gene and at least one promoter, at least one ribosomal binding site, and at least one terminator, wherein neither thaxtomin module comprises a txtC biosynthetic gene, and the thaxtomin modules form a refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster such that expression of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce at least one thaxtomin compound analog or intermediate in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions.

Aspect 40. The method of any of aspects 38-39, wherein the at least one thaxtomin compound analog or intermediate comprises thaxtomin D.

Aspect 41. A genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium comprising: a Streptomyces bacterium from a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain, the Streptomyces bacterium comprising an exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprising one or more thaxtomin modules, each module comprising: one or more thaxtomin genes from a thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster from a plant pathogenic Streptomyces bacterium, wherein if the thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprises only one thaxtomin module, that thaxtomin module comprises two or more thaxtomin genes and one or more promoters operably linked to the one or more thaxtomin genes in the one or more thaxtomin modules, such that expression of the thaxtomin genes in the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions, wherein the non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain without the refactored thaxtomin cluster does not have the ability to produce the thaxtomin compound.

Aspect 42. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of aspect 41, wherein the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprises at least two thaxtomin modules.

Aspect 43. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of aspect 41 or 42, wherein each thaxtomin module comprises one or more promoters operably linked to the one or more thaxtomin genes in that module.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that aspects herein are well adapted to attain the ends and objectives hereinabove set forth together with other advantages which are obvious and which are inherent to the systems and methods.

It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of the aspects.

While specific elements and steps are discussed in connection to one another, it is understood that any element and/or steps provided herein is contemplated as being combinable with any other elements and/or steps regardless of explicit provision of the same while still being within the scope provided herein. Since many possible aspects may be made

of the disclosure without departing from the scope thereof, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense

EXAMPLES

Now having described the embodiments of the disclosure, in general, the examples describe some additional embodiments. While embodiments of the present disclosure are described in connection with the example and the corresponding text and figures, there is no intent to limit embodiments of the disclosure to these descriptions. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents included within the spirit and scope of embodiments of the present disclosure.

Example 1—Cellobiose-independent Production of Thaxtomins by Non-pathogenic Streptomyces Species from a Refactored Thaxtomin Gene Cluster

In a previous study overproduction of thaxtomins was demonstrated in nonpathogenic Streptomyces species were engineered to carry the genomic island of the plant pathogen S. scabiei 87-22, which contains the thaxtomin biosynthetic cluster, resulting in overproduction of thaxtomin by the engineered Streptomyces species. However, in the previous study the thaxtomin biosynthetic cluster was still under the same transcriptional and translational controls as native hosts, and thus dependent on the presence of certain inducers, such as cellobiose. All experiments were performed on cellobiose supplemented media. In the present example, host nonpathogenic Streptomyces species have been transformed with engineered thaxtomin gene modules, designed such that the production of the thaxtomin pathway is not subject to controls that make thaxtomin production dependent upon the presence of cellobiose or other inducer.

Materials and Methods Bacterial Strains and Culture Conditions

Escherichia coli strains were cultured in Luria-Bertani (LB) medium at 37° C. Streptomyces strains were cultured at 30° C. on the International Streptomyces Project medium 4 (ISP4) agar medium or in tryptic soy broth (TSB; BD Biosciences). All liquid cultures were shaken at 250 rpm. When required, media were supplemented with the following antibiotics at the indicated final concentrations: apramycin and nalidixic acid (50 μg/ml). E. coli strain S17-1 was used for conjugation with S. albus J1074. Strains and plasmids used in this study are described in Table 1.

Construction of Refactored Plasmids

End-overlapped DNA synthetic fragments of whole or partial thaxtomin synthetic gene cluster were PCR amplified using cosmid 1989/S.albus J1074 mycelium as templates and assembled with conjugative vector-pLST9828 through NEBuilder HiFi DNA Assembly Cloning Kit. The assembled mixtures were transformed into E.coli S17-1 cells. The constructed plasmids were confirmed by gel digestion and DNA sequencing. The conjugation of the transformed E. coli S17-1 with S. albus J1074 enabled the transfer of the whole or partial refactored thatxomin biosynthetic cluster into S. albus J1074.

The Procedure of Fermentation and Isolation Thaxtomins and Nitro-tryptophans

Mycelial suspensions of S. scabiei and S. albus J1074 strains were prepared from 48-hour-old 20 ml TSB-grown cultures by pelleting the mycelia, washing twice with sterile water, and resuspending in 20 ml sterile water. For analysis of thaxtomin production, TDM medium with 1% sugar was used (as described in Johnson, E. G., et al., 2007, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein). Three times 50 ml medium in 250 mL flasks were inoculated with 0.5 ml of mycelial suspension of OD_(600 nm) 1.0. After incubation for 6 days at 30° C. with shaking at 250 rpm, the culturing media were centrifuged with 5000 rpm to pellet the mycelium. The supernatants of centrifugation were added to C18 columns (waters-2 g). Nitrotrptophans were eluted out with 25% methanol while thaxtomins were eluted with 100% methanol. Thaxtomins could also be extracted by ethyl acetate directly from supernatant which could provide the same amount of thaxtomins from the same volume of supernatant. Experiments were repeated using different biological replicates of the Streptomyces strains with three technical replicates per strain.

Analytical HPLC Analysis Method

The HPLC column (Agilent Poroshell 120 EC-C18, 2.7 μm, 4.6×50 mm), kept at 30° C., was eluted first with 10% solvent B (acetonitrile with 0.1% formic acid) for 2 min and then with a linear gradient of 10-50% solvent B in 8 min, followed by another linear gradient of 50-99% solvent B in 5 min. After eluting in 99% solvent B for 3 min, the liner gradient of 99-10% solvent B in 1 min was used. The column was further re-equilibrated with 10% solvent B for 1 min. The flow rate was set as 0.5 ml/min, and the products were detected at 380 nm with a PDA detector.

Semi-preparative HPLC Isolation Method

For semi-preparative analysis, the column (ZORBAX SB-C18, 5.0 μm, 9.4×250 mm) kept at 40° C. was eluted first with 10% solvent B (acetonitrile with 0.1% formic acid) for 2 min and then with a linear gradient of 10-50% solvent B for 8 min, followed by a linear gradient of 50-99% solvent B for 5 min. The column was then cleaned by 99% solvent B for 3 min and re-equilibrated with 10% solvent B for 1 min. The flow rate was set at 3 ml/min, and the products were detected at 380 nm with a PDA detector. All isolates were combined, concentrated, freeze-dried, and then weighed.

LC-MS Analysis of Isolated Products

A SHIMADZU Prominence UPLC system fitted with an Agilent Poroshell 120 EC-C18 column (2.7 μm, 4.6×50 mm) coupled with a Linear Ion Trap Quadrupole LC/MS/MS Mass Spectrometer system was used in the studies. The column was eluted with 10% solvent B (acetonitrile with 0.1% formic acid) for 2 min and then with a linear gradient of 10-50% solvent B in 8 min, followed by another linear gradient of 50-99% solvent B in 5 min. After eluting in 99% solvent B for 3 min, the liner gradient of 99-10% solvent B in 1 min was used. The column was further re-equilibrated with 10% solvent B for 1 min. The flow rate was set as 0.5 ml/min. For MS detection, the turbo spray conditions were identical for all chemicals (curtain gas: 30 psi; ion spray voltage: 5500 V; temperature: 600° C.; ion source gas 1:50 psi; ion source gas 2:60 psi).

Results Refactoring the Thaxtomin Gene Cluster for Cellobiose-independent Production of Thaxtomins

First, the thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster from S. scabiei 87.22 was refactored into three functionally distinct modules, as illustrated in FIG. 2: module 1 with txtD and txtE for the production of 4-NO₂-l-tryptophan, module 2 with txtA, txtB and txtH for the construction of diketopiperazine core of thaxtomins and module 3 with txtC for the tailoring hydroxylations. The thaxtomin biosynthetic gene clusters from other pathogenic Streptomyces strains can be refactored using the same approach. The expression of each module was separately controlled by its own promoter as well as ribosomal binding site and terminator to allow the improved production through fine tuning and balancing the expression of each module. In this Example, the P6³³ was used as the promoter to drive the expression of all three modules, because it is a strong constitutive native promoter of S. albus J1074 (gene2392). All synthetic biology parts, genes and an integrative plasmid pLST9828 were amplified in PCR reactions and assembled by NEBuilder® HiFi DNA Assembly Cloning Kit (NEB). The assembled plasmid was then transformed into E. coli S17-1, followed by the conjugation with S. albus J1074 to create the production strain S. albus J1074-RF-thx. Using the same strategy, S. albus J1074-RF-ΔC-thx was created that lacks the last module with txtC.

Production of Thaxtomins by S. albus J1074-RF-thx

The engineered strain S. albus J1074-RF-thx was cultured in multiple media with different nutrient components, including R5, TB, NBYE, LB, ISP4 and ISP2. The native thaxtomin producer S. scabiei 87.22 was included as the control. The strains were cultured at 30° C. and 250 rpm for 6 days. The clear supernatants were then collected after the centrifugation and passed through C18 cartridge. Nitrotryptophan analogs (compounds 5-6, FIG. 1) were then eluted with 25% methanol, while 100% methanol then eluted thaxtomin analogs (compounds 1-3, FIG. 1).

The fractions containing the same set of metabolites were combined, dried, and re-dissolved in methanol for HPLC analysis. Thaxtomin A (peak 1) and N-acetyl-4-NO₂-l-tryptophan (6) were present in all extracts from S. albus J1074-RF cultures, and some effects of culture media on the metabolite profiles of S. albus J1074-RF-thx were observed (FIG. 3). S. albus J1074-RF-thx produced thaxtomin A (peak 1), Ortho-thaxtomin A (peak 2), thaxtomin D (peak 3), N-methyl-4-NO₂-l-tryptophan (peak 4), and N-acetyl-4-NO₂-l-tryptophan (peak 6) in TB and LB culturing media, while only trace amounts of thaxtomin A and N-acetyl-4-NO₂-l-tryptophan were detected from the R5 culturing medium. TB and NBYE supported the highest level of N-acetyl-4-NO₂-I-tryptophan. TB, ISP2, and LB supported the highest yields of thaxtomin A, in that order. The isolation yield of thaxtomin A in ISP2 reached 18.8 mg/L. Although no 4-NO₂-l-tryptophan (4) was detected in any culture of S. albus J1074-RF-thx, the accumulation of N-acetyl-4-NO₂-l-tryptophan and/or N-methyl-4-NO₂-l-tryptophan and thaxtomins in these extracts suggests the high activity of module 1 of the refactored thaxtomin gene cluster. This result also suggested the high activities of unidentified N-acetyltransferases and N-methyltransferases in S. albus J1074 that together effectively acylate the amine of 4-NO₂-l-tryptophan, potentially competing with TxtB and TxtA in the synthesis of thaxtomins. No media supported the production of thaxtomin analogs by S. scabiei 87.22 (FIG. 3), probably due to the absence of natural inducers, such as cellobiose. Trace amounts of N-methyl-4-NO₂-l-tryptophan and N-acetyl-4-NO₂-l-tryptophan were observed in the extracts of S. scabiei 87.22 cultured in R5 and ISP2.

The Effects of Sugars on the Production of Thaxtomins by S. albus J1074-RF-thx

Previous studies have found that the minimal medium TDM supplemented with cellobiose (TDMc) allows S. scabiei 87.22 to produce the relative high yield of thaxtomin A. (see Wach, M. J., et al. 2007 and Johnson, E. G., et al., 2007). The production of thaxtomin A (9.1 mg/L) when culturing S. scabiei 87.22 in TDMc medium for 6 days was confirmed. Remarkably, S. albus J1074-RF-thx produced 29.3 mg/L of thaxtomin A in the TDMc medium, as determined by the HPLC analysis. Since the expression of the refactored thaxtomin gene cluster is designed to be cellobiose-independent, this costly sugar very likely acts only as the carbon source to support cellular processes. Accordingly, other sugars were examined as the carbon sources to culture S. albus J1074-RF-thx. HPLC analysis revealed that S. albus J1074-RF-thx produced thaxtomin A, Ortho-thaxtomin A, and N-acetyl-4-NO₂-l-tryptophan in TDM media carrying various sugar components including mannitol, glucose, arabinose, and maltose (FIG. 4). The highest yield of thaxtomin A was observed at 20.4 mg/L when TDM was supplemented with glucose (TDMg). Importantly, the cost of TDMg can be lower than 20 cents per liter. By contrast, the cost of TDMc (based on chemical costs listed in Sigma-Aldrich website) can be 70 times higher than TDMg. This result clearly demonstrates the cost-effective overproduction of thaxtomins using the S. albus J1074-RF-thx strain.

Furthermore, S. albus J1074-RF-thx produced a large quantity of N-acetyl-4-NO₂-l-tryptophan (compound 6, FIG. 1) in TMD media supplemented with mannitol, glucose, and arabinose (FIG. 4). This metabolite is believed to be produced by acetylating 4-NO₂-l-tryptophan that is the enzymatic product of TxtE and TxtD (module 1). Its accumulation suggests the possibility of higher expression levels of modules 2 and 3 to achieve further improved production of thaxtomins. Metabolomics and transcriptomics approaches will be used to optimize and balance the expression level of each module in the refactored thaxtomin gene cluster to further improve the production of thaxtomins.

Using the same approach, the production of thaxtomins by S. scabiei 87.22 was examined in TDM medium supplemented with the above sugars. Although the trace amount of N-acetyl-4-NO₂-l-tryptophan was detected from the extracts of all culture media in HPLC analysis (FIG. 4), the production of thaxtomins was still completely abolished in the absence of cellobiose. These studies therefore clearly demonstrated the great potential of S. albus J1074-RF-thx to produce thaxtomins in a cost-attractive manner.

Production of Thaxtomin Biosynthetic Intermediates by S. albus J1074-RF-ΔC-thx

Thaxtomin biosynthetic intermediates can serve as useful precursors to chemically synthesize new thaxtomin analogs. Thaxtomin D is the earliest diketopiperazine intermediate within the thaxtomin biosynthetic pathway. Its yield is low in various culturing media of S. scabiie 87.22 and S. albus J1074-RF-thx (compound 3, FIGS. 3 and 4), but thaxtomin D is accumulated when the txtC gene is inactivated in S. scabiei 87.22 (Healy, F. G., et al., 2002) A partially refactored thaxtomin cluster carrying only modules 1 and 2 was created (FIG. 2., top, “partially refactored thaxtomin gene cluster”). This partial cluster was conjugated into S. albus J1074 to generate S. albus J1074-RF-ΔC-thx. This strain was cultured in TDMg medium, and HPLC analysis identified N-methly-4-NO₂-l-tryptophan (compound 5), N-acetyl-4-NO₂-l-tryptophan (compound 6), which is a dominant metabolite, and thaxtomin D (compound 3) in the culture extract (FIG. 5). The yield of thaxtomin D was quantitated to be 22.4 mg/L. As a control, no thaxtomin D was produced by S. scabiei 87.22 in TDMg. This result further demonstrated the great promise of Streptomyces hosts carrying the refactored thaxtomin cluster to produce thaxtomin analogs in a cost-effective manner.

TABLE 1 Bacterial strains, plasmids, and cosmids used in this study Strain or Source or plasmid Description^(†) reference E. coli strains S 17-1 General cloning and conjugation 35 donor strain (tmp^(R)) Plasmids or cosmids Cosmid 1989 SuperCos1 derivative containing This study the S. scabiei 87-22 txtH locus (kan^(R), amp^(R)) pLST9828 Integrative Plasmid (amp^(R)) This study ^(†)apr^(R), apramycin resistance; kan^(R), kanamycin resistance; amp^(R), ampicillin resistance

Example 2—Characterization of the Strengths of Multiple Different Promoters in Producing N-acetyl-4-NO₂-l-tryptophan (6)

Following on the results from Example 1 with the complete and partial refactored thaxtomin gene clusters using the P6 as the promoter (FIG. 2) to drive the expression of each module in the absence of cellobiose, the present Example tested the activity of additional promoters. Using the P6 promoter for each module as described in Example 1 and illustrated in FIG. 2 led to the significant accumulation of compound 6, one derivative of biosynthetic building block 4-NO₂-l-tryptophan (FIGS. 3-5). To further optimize the expression of each module, 14 additional constitutive promoters of S. albus were tested using similar methods as described above for Example 1. These 14 promoters have been identified and characterized with a report gene (xylE) in Luo, et al. (ACS Synth Biol., 2015, 4, 1001-1010, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein).

Materials & Methods

End-overlapped DNA synthetic fragments were PCR amplified using cosmid 1989/S.albus J1074 mycelium as templates and assembled with conjugative vector pLST9828 using the NEBuilder HiFi DNA Assembly Cloning Kit. Primers were developed according to known procedures for amplification and cloning. The assembled mixtures were transformed into E. coli S17-1 cells. The constructed plasmids were then isolated and confirmed by DNA sequencing. The conjugation of the transformed E. coli S17-1 with S. albus J1074 enabled the transfer of the designed clusters into S. albus J1074. Any materials and methods not described here are the same as described for Example 1, above.

Results & Discussion

In addition to the P6 (SEQ ID NO: 16), 14 constitutive promoters (P1, P7, P8, P9, P10, P11, P13, P20, P23, P24, P28, P31, Ksaop*, and P6E-PID (SEQ ID NOs: 15, and 17-29, respectively)) were cloned from the genomic DNA of S. albus J1074 and used to drive the expression of the module illustrated in FIG. 6A including only the TxtE and TxtD gene. These constructs were then conjugated into S. albus J1074 as described in Example 1, and the selected colonies were cultured in ISP4 for 7 days. The yields of compound 6 were quantitated in the culture medium of each strain by HPLC analysis (FIG. 6B). This analysis identified the P24 as the strongest promoter with an apparent strength 1.6 times higher than the P6. On the other hand, eight promoters were weaker than P6, ranging from 32% (P11) to 0.1% (P23). These constitutive promoters with weak, medium, and strong strengths offered value opportunities to fine tune the expression of each module of the refactored thaxtomin gene cluster such as the clusters illustrated in FIG. 2 from Example 1, above, which can provide improved productivity and the reduced accumulation of relevant biosynthetic intermediates (e.g., compound 6).

Example 3—Improved Production of Thaxtomins Using Promoters of Different Strengths in Refactored Thaxtomin Biosynthetic Gene Clusters

With the understanding of the strengths of 15 different constitutive promoters in expressing compound 6, from Example 2 above, new refactored thaxtomin gene clusters were designed with combinations of promoters and tested. This Example sought to improve the yield of thaxtomins in the absence of cellobiose on the basis of the modular design of refactored thaxtomin gene cluster described above (Example 1, FIG. 2). As shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, the initial refactored gene cluster led to the significant accumulation of compound 6 whose production competes with the production of thaxtomins by consuming 4-NO₂-l-tryptophan. Therefore, the present Example sought to determine if the increased cellular availability of 4-NO₂-l-tryptophan can enhance the production of thaxtomins. Thus, the present Example describes two new refactored gene clusters (FIG. 7A). In the new refactored gene clusters of the present Example, either all genes in module 1 (TxtE and TxtD) are together driven by the strongest promoter P24 as well as ribosomal binding site and terminator (FIG. 7, top cluster), or the expression of TxtE and TxtD is separately controlled by P6 and P1, respectively, along with the same ribosomal binding site and terminator (FIG. 7A, bottom cluster). The second refactored cluster was tested to see if the separate control of TxtD expression, which produces NO from I-arginine, can improve the production of thaxtomins. NO is the co-substrate of TxtE and also toxic to thaxtomin-producing cells.

Materials & Methods

The following procedures were used for creation of S. albus J1074-P6TxtC-P6TxtABH-P24TxtED and S. albus J1074-P6TxtC-P6TxtABH-P6TxtE-P1TxtD (illustrated in FIG. 7A). NEBuilder HiFi DNA Assembly Cloning Kit was used to generate the PCR fragments of P6TxtE-P1TxtD and P24TxtED. These fragments and pSL9828-P6TxtC-P6TxtABH-P6TxtED were then treated with DraI and NdeI. After gel purification, the digested fragments were separately cloned into the digested plasmid to create pSL9828-P6TxtC-P6TxtABH-P6TxtE-P1TxtD and pSL9828-P6TxtC-P6TxtABH-P24TxtED.

The two gene clusters were transferred into S. albus J1074 as described above to create S. albus J1074-RF-thx to generate S. albus J1074-P6TxtC-P6TxtABH-P24TxtED and S. albus J1074-P6TxtC-P6TxtABH-P6TxtE-P1TxtD. The two engineered strains carrying these two clusters were then fermented in ISP4 and TDMm (TMD media supplemented with 1% mannitol) at 30° C. and 250 rpm for 4 days. Thaxtomins were extracted from clear culture media using C18 columns as described above

Results & Discussion

As shown in FIG. 7B, both strains produced 3-6 times more thaxtomin A in ISP4 (traces II and IV) than TDMm (traces I and III), further supporting that media optimization is a viable approach to increase the productivity of thaxtomins from the refactored gene cluster. On the other hand, the use of the P24 (traces III and IV) to express the module 1 accumulated higher concentrations of thaxtomin A compared to separate regulation of TxtE and TxtD genes in both media (traces I and II) (See FIG. 7B).

The yields of thaxtomin A and D were further quantitated in two culture media of the two strains (FIG. 7C). This analysis revealed that the strain carrying P6TxtC-P6TxtABH-P24TxtED (S. albus J1074-P6TxtC-P6TxtABH-P24TxtED) produced about 23 mg/L of thaxtomin A in ISP4. Of note, S. albus J1074-RF-thx produced 29.3 mg/L, 20.4 mg/L and 18.8 mg/L of thaxtomin A in TDMc, TDMg, and ISP2, respectively, at 30° C. and 250 rpm for 6 days (FIGS. 3 & 4). As a comparison, the productivity of thaxtomin A by S. albus J1074-P6TxtC-P6TxtABH-P24TxtED reached 78.5% of the previous highest value but only took 4 days. Importantly, this work indicates that the use of additional promoters of varying strengths to fine tune the expression of genes in the refactored gene cluster can further improve the productivity of thaxtomin A.

LISTING OF SEQUENCES: txtA (scab31791) (SEQ ID NO: 1) GTGTCGCACCTGACCGGTGAAGATCTCCCGGAGGGAGCGCTCGCCACGACGTGGCCGAGT CTCCTCGAAGCGCGGGTGGCCGACACACCTGACGCCATCGCGCTCGTCGCCGGGGACACG GCGCTCACGTACGCGCAGTTCAATGCCCGTGCGAACCGGCTCGCCCGGTGGCTGAAGTAC CTCGGCGCCGGGCCGGAGCGGTCGGTCGGGCTGGTGCTGGGCAGGTCCGCGGACTTCTTC CTGTGCGCGACGGCCGTGCTCAAGTGCGGGGCCGCGTACCTGCCGCTGGATCCGAACTAC CCCGTGGAGCGACTGTCCTTCATGGCCCGGGACGCAGCACCCGTGGTGCTGGTGACGACG TCGGACGTCCGGGGCGACCTTCTGGGCCAGCTGCCCACCGGCAGCCTCGTGGTACTGGAC GACGAGGCCACCGAGGACGTACTGCGCCGTCTGCCGGACCACGACATGGAGGACGGGGAA CGTTTGGAGCCACTGCGCCCCGCGAGTCCCGCCTACATCATCTACACCTCCGGCTCCACG GGGATCCCCAAGGGAGTCGTCGTCACCCACCAAGGCGTCGCGAGCCTGATCGCGACCCAG CGTCGTCGCCTCGCCGTCACCGGCGCCTCACGCGTGCTCGCCTTCTCGTCCCCGAGTTTC GACGCCAGTTTCTGGGAGATGTCGATGGCGCTGCTGGCCGGGGCCGCGCTCGTGGTCGGC AGGCCGGGGCGGCTGCTGCCCGACGCCGAACTGGCCGCGTTGATCGCGGACCACGGAGTC ACTCATGTCACTCTCCCGCCCTCGGTCGCGGGTGCGCTGGGCCCCGACATGCTGCCTCCG AGCGTGACGCTGGTCGTCGCGGGCGAAGCGTGCCCGGCGGCTCTCGTGCAGCGCTGGCGC CCGCACCGGACGATGGTGAACGCCTACGGCCCGACGGAGTCCACCGTCTGCGCCACCATG AGCGATCCGCTGGCCGACGACGTGGCGCCGCCGGTCGGCCGGGCGGTGGACGGCACCCGG ATCCATGTCCTCGACGACCGCCTCGCACCGGTTGTGCCGGGAGCGGTCGGCGAGATCTAC ATCGCGGGGCACAGCCTGGCACGCGGGTACCTCGAGCGGCCGGGTCTGACCGCGCAGCGG TTCGTGGCGGACCCCTTCGGCCCGGCCGGCAGCCGTATGTACCGCAGCGGTGACCTCGGC CGCTGGACCCGTTCAGGAGACCTGGAGTTCGTCGGCAGGGCGGACGACCAGGTCAAGGTA CGCGGCTTCCGTATCGAGCCGGGCGAGATCGAATCCGTCATCGCCGGGTGCCGCGGGGTC CGGCAGGCCGCCGTCGTCCTGCGTGAGGACCGGCCCGGAGAGCCATACCTCGCCGCCTAC GTCATACCCGAGAACGCGGCCGCCGACGAGGCGGCCGGCGAGGAACCGGACGGTCAACTC GATGCCTGGCGACGGCTCTACGACGATCTGTACGGCCGAGCCGACACCGCCGACTTCGGC GAGGACTTCTCCGGCTGGGTGAGCAGTTATGGCGGGCGGCCGATCGAGGGGATGCGCGAA TGGCGTGAGCAGACCGTGCGGCAGATCCGCGAACTGGCTCCGCGCCGCGTACTGGAGATC GGCTGCGGTTCCGGTCTGCTGCTCTCGCAGCTGGCGGGTGACTGCGAAAGCTACTGGGGC ACCGACATCTCCGGGGCCCTGATCGAGCGGCTGCGCGGGCAGGTCGCCGAGCGCCCCGGC CTCGCGGACCGGGTCGTCCTGCATCAGCTCTCCGCCCATGAGCTGGGGAGTCTGCCCAGC GGCGGCTTCGACACCGTCGTGCTCAACTCCGTGATCCAGTACTTTCCCTCAGGCGATTAC CTGTTCGACCTACTGCGCGAGGTGTCCCGGCTCCTGGTACCCGGGGGCGCGGTGTTCCTC GGCGACGTCCGTAACCTTCGTCTGCTGCGCACCTTCCACGCCGGGGGGCTGCTGGCGGCG GCCACGCACACCGACACTCCGCAGACGGTCTGCGCGGCGATCGACCGGGCCATGGCGCAG GAGAAGGAACTGCTCGTGGACCCGGAGTTCTTCACGACGGCCGTCGGCGCGCTGCCCGGC ATGACGCTGGAGTCGTGCACGCTCAAACGGGGCGGGTACGACAACGAACTCAGCCGCTAT CGCTACGAGGTGGTGCTGCGCAAGCATGCCGGGCCTGCCGATGACACCGGGCCCACGGAC GACGCGGGGCCGGTCGTGCGACTGCGGTGGGACGGCGAGATGGCGAGCCTGGCCGACGTC GCCGATCGGCTGCGTCGTGGGAAACCGGAGCGGTTGTGCGTCACCGGGATCCCCAACGGC CGGGTGGCCGGCGAGCATGCCGCGACACTCGCGCTGTTCGACCGGCGCCCCCTGCACGAG GTGCTGTCCCTGGGGCAGGCTCCGGCGGGCGTGGCACCGGAGGACCTGCGCCGGCTGGGC GCGGAACTGGGCTACCGGGTCGACTGCACCTGGTCGTCCGAGGACGACGCCCTGATCGAC GCTTCCTTCACACGCGCCGGAGCGCTCGTGCCGCGTCCCGCCCCCCGGACCGACGCGGAG CCGGACGGTTTCTCCCCGGCCCGGTTCACCAACAGGCCGGCGTTCGCCCGCCCCGACTCC CAGACGATGGCCTCTCTTCCCGGGCAGGTCGCGGCGAAGCTGCCGGCCTTCATGGTCCCG GAGGTCTTCGTCCCGCTCGACAGGCTGCCGGTCACGGTGAACGGAAAGCTCGACCGCGGC GCCCTGCCCCGGCCGCGGCGCGCCGCCCATGCCTCGGGACGTCCGCCCAGGACCGCCCGC GAGGAGGTACTGGCGGCGATCTTCGCCGACGTACTCGCGACAGCCGACGTCACAGCCGAC AGCGACTTCTTCGCCGTCGGCGGCAACTCCCTGCTGGCCACCCGACTCGCCGCCGAGGTC CGGCGGCGCCTGAACACCGAGATGCCGCTGTCGTGGCTGTTCGAGTCGCCCACCGTCGGC GCGCTCGCCGCCCGCTTCGACGCGGGGGACGAGGCCAGGCCGCTGCCCGTGCCGAGCGAG TACGCCTCCGGCAGCACGGCGCCGTTGTCGGCCCAGCAGATGCAGATGTGGCACGAGTAC CGCCGAAGCCTGTGTCGCGACATGTTCAACGTGCCGCTGTCGCAGCGGCTGACCGGTGCC GTCGACGCCGAGGCACTGCGCGCCGCCCTCGCCGATGTCGTCACCCGGCACGTTCCGCTG CGCACGCTCGTCCAGGACGACGGCAGCGGTCCGTGTGCGGTGATCACGGAAGCCACCGCG GACGACATCCCATGGACGGAGACCAGGACCACGCCCGAGCGGCTGTCCGAGGATCTCGCG CACGCCGCCCGCCGCCACTTCGACCTCGAGACCGAGATCCCGCTGCGGGCCGTACTGTTC ACGCTCGGCCCGGACGAGTCCGTACTGCTGCTGGTCATGCATCACATCGCCGCCGACGGC TGGTCCTTCGGCCCCCTGCTGGAGGACCTGGTCCGCGCCTACCGCGCCCGGACCGAGGGG CGCGCACCACAGTGGGAGCCGCTGTCCTTCGGCTACCTCGACTACGTCGCCTGGCAGCGC CGGCTGCTCGGCGCCACGGACGACCCGAGCGACGTCGCGCTGCGCCAGGCGGAGTACTGG AGGAAGACGCTGCACGGTGCCGACGACAGGCCGGTCCTGGAGACCGACAGCCCGGCGCCG GCCCAGCAGGACTTTGCCGGCAGGTCCCTCGATCTTCCGCTCGAAGTCGGCGGCCACCGG GTGCTGACAGCCGCGGCCCGTGAGCACGGTGTCACCGTCTTCATGATCCTGCACGCCGCG CTCGTCGCACTGCTCGCCCGCAGGGGAGCAGGAGGGGACGTCACCGTCGTGACCGCGGTG GCCGGCCGGACCGACACCCAGTTCGAACCGCTGGTGGGCCTCTTCGCCAACACCTTGGCG CTGCGCACCGACACGTCGGGCAACCCCACCTTCCGCGAACTGCTGGACCGGGTCCGCGTG ACCGATCTCGGTGCCTATGCCCACCAGGACCTGCTCTTCGAGCGCCTGGCCGACGTGCCA CCGCCCCAGGTGTCACTCGTCCTGCGCACGGTCGCAGCTCCGCCGGCCGACCTGCCGGGC CTCACCATCAGTCCCGGCCCACGGCCGGCGAGCGAATCCGCCCGCTATCCGGTGCTGTGG ACCGTGGAGCATCTGGCCTCCGCCGCGGACGGCGGGACGCTGCGCAGCCACATCCAGTAC CAGAGCGGGCTGCTGCGCGACGACACGGTCGTCCGGCTCGCCCAGCAGTACGAAGTCGTG CTGTCCCTGTTGTTGAAGGATCCCGATCTCCGCGTCCAGGACCTCCCACTGCAGTGA TxtA (scab31791) (SEQ ID NO: 2) VSHLTGEDLPEGALATTWPSLLEARVADTPDAIALVAGDTALTYAQFNARANRLARWLKY LGAGPERSVGLVLGRSADFFLCATAVLKCGAAYLPLDPNYPVERLSFMARDAAPVVLVTT SDVRGDLLGQLPTGSLVVLDDEATEDVLRRLPDHDMEDGERLEPLRPASPAYIIYTSGST GIPKGVVVTHQGVASLIATQRRRLAVTGASRVLAFSSPSFDASFWEMSMALLAGAALVVG RPGRLLPDAELAALIADHGVTHVTLPPSVAGALGPDMLPPSVTLVVAGEACPAALVQRWR PHRTMVNAYGPTESTVCATMSDPLADDVAPPVGRAVDGTRIHVLDDRLAPVVPGAVGEIY IAGHSLARGYLERPGLTAQRFVADPFGPAGSRMYRSGDLGRWTRSGDLEFVGRADDQVKV RGFRIEPGEIESVIAGCRGVRQAAVVLREDRPGEPYLAAYVIPENAAADEAAGEEPDGQL DAWRRLYDDLYGRADTADFGEDFSGWVSSYGGRPIEGMREWREQTVRQIRELAPRRVLEI GCGSGLLLSQLAGDCESYWGTDISGALIERLRGQVAERPGLADRVVLHQLSAHELGSLPS GGFDTVVLNSVIQYFPSGDYLFDLLREVSRLLVPGGAVFLGDVRNLRLLRTFHAGGLLAA ATHTDTPQTVCAAIDRAMAQEKELLVDPEFFTTAVGALPGMTLESCTLKRGGYDNELSRY RYEVVLRKHAGPADDTGPTDDAGPVVRLRWDGEMASLADVADRLRRGKPERLCVTGIPNG RVAGEHAATLALFDRRPLHEVLSLGQAPAGVAPEDLRRLGAELGYRVDCTWSSEDDALID ASFTRAGALVPRPAPRTDAEPDGFSPARFTNRPAFARPDSQTMASLPGQVAAKLPAFMVP EVFVPLDRLPVTVNGKLDRGALPRPRRAAHASGRPPRTAREEVLAAIFADVLATADVTAD SDFFAVGGNSLLATRLAAEVRRRLNTEMPLSWLFESPTVGALAARFDAGDEARPLPVPSE YASGSTAPLSAQQMQMWHEYRRSLCRDMFNVPLSQRLTGAVDAEALRAALADVVTRHVPL RTLVQDDGSGPCAVITEATADDIPWTETRTTPERLSEDLAHAARRHFDLETEIPLRAVLF TLGPDESVLLLVMHHIAADGWSFGPLLEDLVRAYRARTEGRAPQWEPLSFGYLDYVAWQR RLLGATDDPSDVALRQAEYWRKTLHGADDRPVLETDSPAPAQQDFAGRSLDLPLEVGGHR VLTAAAREHGVTVFMILHAALVALLARRGAGGDVTVVTAVAGRTDTQFEPLVGLFANTLA LRTDTSGNPTFRELLDRVRVTDLGAYAHQDLLFERLADVPPPQVSLVLRTVAAPPADLPG LTISPGPRPASESARYPVLWTVEHLASAADGGTLRSHIQYQSGLLRDDTVVRLAQQYEVV LSLLLKDPDLRVQDLPLQ txtB (scab31781) (SEQ ID NO: 3) ATGTCCATGCTGCCGCCGGGGCGAAGCCGCACCACGGCCTCGCCCGCCGGGGCCCAGGCC GGCCCCGAGTTCACCCCCGGCCTATGGGGACGGCTCTTCGAAGCCCGTGTCGACGCCGCC CCCGAATCCACCGCGATCAACTCCGCGAGCGAGCGGCTGAGTTACGCCGAACTGAACCGG CGGGCCAACCGCCTCGCCAGGTTGCTCATCGCACGTGGCGCCGGCCCGGAGAGCCTGGTC GGTCTCGCCCTGCCGCGCTCGACCGACTTCGTGGTGGCCGTGGCGGCCGTACTGAAATCG GGCGCCGGCTACTTCCCGATGGATCCGGACTATCCTCCGCAGCGGCTGGCGTTCATGCTC GCCGACGCCGCTCCCATGCTGGTGCTGACCAGGAGTGACATCGAGCCCGAGCTGCCGGCC GAGGCGGCCTCCCGCACGGTGGTGCTGGACGACCCGGCCGTCGTACGGACCCTGGCCGAC TGCTCCGCGGCGGATGTGGCGGACGACGAACGCGGCGCCCCGCTCCGGACCCGGCATCCG GCCTATGTCATCTACACCTCGGGTTCCACCGGTACTCCCAAAGGAGTGGTCCTCACCCAC CACGGCATCGCCAGCCTGGTGGGCAGCCATGCGCGGGACCTGGGGATCGGGCCGTCCAGC CGGTTGCTGCTCTTTTCCTCGCCGAGTTTCGACGGCGCCTTCTGGGACGTGTCGATGGCC TTGCTCACTGGCGCCACGCTGGTGGTCGCACCGCGTGAACGGCTCCTGCCCGGACCGGAG TTCAGTGCGCTCGCCGCCGAGGAGGGCATCACCCACTTCACCCTGCCGGCCTCCACGCTC GCCGCCCTGCCGGACGGCGCTCTGCCCGCCGGGGCCACCGTCGTCAATGTGGGCGAGGCC TGCAACAGCGAGCTGGTGCGCCGCTGGTCGCCGGGCCGGCTGCTGGTGAACGCGTACGGA CCGACCGAATCGACCGTCTCCGCGACCATGAGCGGACCGTTGGCCGGGGCAGGCATCCCG CCCATCGGCCGTCCGCTCTCGGACACCCGCATCCACGTCCTCGACGAGCGGCTCCGGCCG GTACCGCCGGGAGCGGTCGGAGAGATCCACATCGCCGGAGCGGGGCTGGCCCGCGGGTAC CTGGGGCGGCCCGCGCTGACCGCCGAGCGGTTCGTGGCCGACCCCTTCGGGACGCCGGGC GAGCGGATGTACCGGACCGGCGACCGGGTGAGGGTGCGTGACGACGGGCAACTGGAGTTC GTGGGCCGGGTCGACGACCAGGCGAAGATACGGGGTTTCCGAGTGGAGCCCGGCGAGGTC GAAGCCGTGCTGCGCGACCATCCCGAGGTCGCGCAGGCCGCGGTGGTGGTCCGGGAGGAC ACTCCGGGAGACCAGAGGCTCGTCGCCTATGTCGTGCCGGACCACCCGGCCGTGCGGCAG GCCGACGACACCACCTCGGAGCACGTCGAGGAATGGCAACGGCTCTACGACGAGGTCTAC AGCGCAGTGGGAGCGCTCCCCCTGGGGGAGGACTTCAGCGGCTGGAACAGCACCTACGAC GGCGAGCCCATTCCCGTGCCTCAGATGCAAGCCTGGCGGGACGCCACGGTCGACAGCATC CGTGCCCTGCGACCGCGCCGGGTACTGGAGATCGGCGTGGGCACCGGGCTGCTGCTGTCC CGCCTCGCCGGTGACTGCGAGGCGTACTGGGCCACCGACTTCTCCGCCGAGGTGATCGAG ACACTCGGCAAGAAGGTGGACGTCGACCCGGTGCTGCGGGAGAAGGTCCACCTGCTGCAC GGTCCCGCACACGACCTCCCCGGCCTCCCCGAGGGGTACTTCGACACCGTTGTCCTCAAC TCGGTGATCCAGTACTTTCCGTCGGCCGACTACCTGGTGAGCGTCCTGCGCGAGGCGGCA CGCCTGCTGGCGCCGGGCGGCCGGGTGTTCGTCGGCGACATCCGGCACCTGCGTCTGCTG CGCCCGCTGCGCAGCGCCGTCCGGCTGCGCTCCGCCACCCGGCGGGAAGCCTCTGCCTCC GCCGTCCGCGCGGCGGTCGAGCAGGACCTGGTGGATGAGAAGGAGTTGCTCCTCGACCCC GCGTTCTTCGCCGCGGTACCCCGGTGGATCCCGCAGCTCCGCGGGGTACGCACAGCGGTG CAGCGCGGCACGCACCACAACGAACTGACCCGCTACCGGTACGACGCGGTGCTCATCAAG GAGCCGGTGGAAACCGGTACCGCTGCGCCGGACGCGCAGACACTGACCTGGGGCACGGAT GTCAGCGGACTGCAGGAGTTGTCCGGCCTGCTGGCCCGCACCCGCACGTCGCTGCTGCTG CGCGGCGTGCCGAACAGCCGGATCCTCGGTGAGGCATCGGCCGCGACGGCGCTGACCACG GCCCGGTCGCTCGACGAGCCGTTGCGGTTGCTGCAAGAACCGGCGGCAGGGATCGACCCC GAGGAACTGCACGCCCTGGGCGGGGGCGCCGGCTGCGAGGTCCACCTCACGTGGTCGGCG CAGGACCCCACGCGACTGGACGCCTGTTTCACACCCGTGGGCGGTGAACCGGGCGCCGTC CCGCTGGCGGAGTCCGCCGACAGCGGCAGGACGTCGCCCGGTGACCACGCCAACCAGCCG ACCACGCACCGGACCGGCAACGCCCTGATGGGCAAGCTCCCCGGCTATCTGGCCGCCAGG CTCCCCGCGTACCTGCGGCCCAGCGCCGTGGTACGCATCGCGTCGCTCCCCCTCACCGTC AACGGCAAGCTCGACCGCACGGCGCTGCCCCGTCCCGCCCTGTTCCCGCGGGCTGACGGG CAGGCGCCCCGCACTCCGCGCGAGGAGATCCTCGCCAATCTCTTCGCCGATGTGCTCGGC CTGCCCGGGGTGCCGAGGGACGCCGACTTCTTCGCCCTGGGCGGCAACTCGCTACTGGCC ACGCGCCTCGTCGGCCGTATCGCGAAACACCTCGAAGTCGATGTTCCGATCGCCTGGATC TTCGAGACACCGACCGTCGAGGGCCTGGCCGGGCGTACCGCTCCGGCGAGCAGGCTCCGC CCGCTGTTGCTCTGCCGCGACGAGAACCACGCGGCGGTGCCGCTCTCGCACAGCCAGTAC GGCATGTGGTTCATCAACCAACTCGGCGGACCCGCGAGCCGGATCTACAACGTGCCGTAC TGCCTGCGGATCACGGGCCGGGTGGACACCGGGGCGCTGCGGACCGCACTCGATGACGTC GTGGCTCGTCACGAACCCCTGCGTACCGTCTTCCCCGATGACGGTGACGGCCCCCGCCAA CGGGTCCTCGCCCCCGAGGACGCCGCGGTGGTCCTTCATGAGACCGACGCCGCCGAAGAC CGTCTGGCCGGCCACCTGGCGCGGGCCGCGGCGGAACCCTTCGAGCTCAGGACGGACCTT CCCCTGCGCGCACGCCTGTTCCGGCACGGACAGGACCGGTACACGCTCCTGCTCCTGATG CACCACATCACCGTGGACGCCTGGTCGCTGGCCCCCCTGACGGCGGACCTGGCGCACGCC TACCGGGCGCGGCTGGGGCAGCGGGCCCCGCAGTGGCAGCCGCTGCCGGTTCACTATCGC GACTACGCCGTATGGCACAACGAGCAAGCAGCCGAGGCGCAGGACCGCGGCAGCGGCTTC GGGCGCCAGCTCGCCTTCTGGGAGCGGACGCTGCGCGGTCTTCCGGTCGAGACGCGGCTG CCGGCCGACCGGAGCCGTCCGGCCAGACCTACCTATCGTGGCGGCACCGTCCACACCCAC GTCGAAGCCTCCCTCCATCAGGAACTGCTCAACTGCGCGCGGGAGACGGGCGCGACGCTC TTCATGGTGCTGCACGCCGCGCTCGCGGCACTGCTGACCCGGCTGGGCGGCGGCACCGAC ATCGTCGTCGGCACCGCTGCCGCGGCGCGCACGGACCCCGCGCTGGACGACCTCGTCGGG CTGTTCGCCAACAGTGTCGTCCTTCGCGTCGACACCTCGGGCGACCCGACGTTCCGCACC CTGCTCGCTCGGACCCGGGCCGTGGACCTCGACGCCTTCACCCACCAGGAGGTCCCGTTC GACCAGGTGGTGGATCGCGTCAACCCGGCACGCCACCCGGCACGTCACCCGCTCTACCAG ACGGCCCTCGTCCTGCACGCACCGCCCGGCGACGGCCATCGGGCCGACTCCGTCACCCTC ACCCCCGAACCGCCCCCGAACACCGGAACGGCCCGCTTCGATCTGATGTTCAACTGGGAC GAGAGCCGGGACAGCGCCGGCCTCGCCCAGGGCCTCACCGGCCGTACCGAGTACAGCTCG GACCTCTTCTCCCAGGAGACAGTCGAACTGCTCCTGGAGCGGTATCTCCTGCTGCTGTCC GCCGCGGTCCGCGACCCGGACGCACGCCTTCACACCCTGGACATCCTCACCGAGCCGGAA CGGCGGGCCTTCTCACCACGGCCGTAG TxtB (scab31781) (SEQ ID NO: 4) MSMLPPGRSRTTASPAGAQAGPEFTPGLWGRLFEARVDAAPESTAINSASERLSYAELNR RANRLARLLIARGAGPESLVGLALPRSTDFVVAVAAVLKSGAGYFPMDPDYPPQRLAFML ADAAPMLVLTRSDIEPELPAEAASRTVVLDDPAVVRTLADCSAADVADDERGAPLRTRHP AYVIYTSGSTGTPKGVVLTHHGIASLVGSHARDLGIGPSSRLLLFSSPSFDGAFWDVSMA LLTGATLVVAPRERLLPGPEFSALAAEEGITHFTLPASTLAALPDGALPAGATVVNVGEA CNSELVRRWSPGRLLVNAYGPTESTVSATMSGPLAGAGIPPIGRPLSDTRIHVLDERLRP VPPGAVGEIHIAGAGLARGYLGRPALTAERFVADPFGTPGERMYRTGDRVRVRDDGQLEF VGRVDDQAKIRGFRVEPGEVEAVLRDHPEVAQAAVVVREDTPGDQRLVAYVVPDHPAVRQ ADDTTSEHVEEWQRLYDEVYSAVGALPLGEDFSGWNSTYDGEPIPVPQMQAWRDATVDSI RALRPRRVLEIGVGTGLLLSRLAGDCEAYWATDFSAEVIETLGKKVDVDPVLREKVHLLH GPAHDLPGLPEGYFDTVVLNSVIQYFPSADYLVSVLREAARLLAPGGRVFVGDIRHLRLL RPLRSAVRLRSATRREASASAVRAAVEQDLVDEKELLLDPAFFAAVPRWIPQLRGVRTAV QRGTHHNELTRYRYDAVLIKEPVETGTAAPDAQTLTWGTDVSGLQELSGLLARTRTSLLL RGVPNSRILGEASAATALTTARSLDEPLRLLQEPAAGIDPEELHALGGGAGCEVHLTWSA QDPTRLDACFTPVGGEPGAVPLAESADSGRTSPGDHANQPTTHRTGNALMGKLPGYLAAR LPAYLRPSAVVRIASLPLTVNGKLDRTALPRPALFPRADGQAPRTPREEILANLFADVLG LPGVPRDADFFALGGNSLLATRLVGRIAKHLEVDVPIAWIFETPTVEGLAGRTAPASRLR PLLLCRDENHAAVPLSHSQYGMWFINQLGGPASRIYNVPYCLRITGRVDTGALRTALDDV VARHEPLRTVFPDDGDGPRQRVLAPEDAAVVLHETDAAEDRLAGHLARAAAEPFELRTDL PLRARLFRHGQDRYTLLLLMHHITVDAWSLAPLTADLAHAYRARLGQRAPQWQPLPVHYR DYAVWHNEQAAEAQDRGSGFGRQLAFWERTLRGLPVETRLPADRSRPARPTYRGGTVHTH VEASLHQELLNCARETGATLFMVLHAALAALLTRLGGGTDIVVGTAAAARTDPALDDLVG LFANSVVLRVDTSGDPTFRTLLARTRAVDLDAFTHQEVPFDQVVDRVNPARHPARHPLYQ TALVLHAPPGDGHRADSVTLTPEPPPNTGTARFDLMFNWDESRDSAGLAQGLTGRTEYSS DLFSQETVELLLERYLLLLSAAVRDPDARLHTLDILTEPERRAFSPRP txtC (scab31761) (SEQ ID NO: 5) ATGGAATCTCCGGCCACCCAGGTCGACCCGGCGAACTCGCCGTTGGAGCCCTATCACATC TACCCGGAGGCCAAGTCCTGCCCGGTGGCGAAGGTCGGTCTGTGGAACGGCACGCCGGCG CACGTGTTCTCCGGGTATGAGGATGTGCGGACCGTGCTGCAGGACAGGCGGTTCAGCTCG GACTCGCGCCGACCCAACTTCACCGAACTCACTCCGACGCTCCAGTCGCAGGCCGCGGCA CCGCCGTTCGTACGCACCGACAATCCTGATCACCGGCGCCTGCGAGGCACCATCGCACGC GAGTTCCTGCCCAAGCACATCGAGCTGCTGCGCCCCGCGATCCGCGAGATCGTCCAGGGT GTGCTCGACGGGCTCGCCGAGACCGCGCCTCCCCAGGACATGCTCGAGGCCTTCGCCGTA CCGGTCGCGTCCGCGACCGTCTTCCGGCTGCTGGGGATTCCGGCCGAGGACCGCGCGTTG CTCACCCGATGCGTCAAGGGCGTGGTCTCGGCGGTGGGGAGCGAGGACGAAGGTGCCGAG GTGTTCCGGACACTCGGCGAGTACATCGGCGGGCTCGTCCAGGACCCCTCCGAACTGCCC GAGGACAGCCTGATCCGGCGCCTGGTGACGGGCCCGTACCAGGAGAAGCAGCTCACCTTC CACGAGACCATCGGCGTGATCCTCATGCTCATCGTCGGGGGCTACGACACGACGGCCAGC ACCATCTCGCTGTCCTTGGTGAGTTATGCACTGCAGCCGGAGAAGTTCTCCGTCGTCCAC GAACACCCGGAGCGGATACCCCTGCTCGTCGAGGAGTTGCTGCGCTATCACACCGTCTCG CAGCTCGGACTGGGCAGGATCGCCACCGAGGACGTCGAGGTGGGCGGCGTCACGGTGCGG GCCGGCCAGATGGTGGTGGCGGCGCTCCCCCTGGCCAACCGGGACGAGAGTGTCTTCCCG AACCCGGACGAACTCGACTTCGACCGCCCGTCCGTGCCCCATGTCGGCTTCGGTTACGGA CCCCACCAGTGCGTCGGCCAGGCACTGGCCCGAGTCGAACTCCAGGAGGCCATTCCCGCG GTGATCCGACGGCTGCCCGGCATGCGGCTCGCCTGCGCTCTGGAAGACCTGCCGTTCCGG CACGACATGGCCACCTACGGCATCCATGAGCTGCCCATGACCTGGTGA TxtC (scab31761) (SEQ ID NO: 6) MESPATQVDPANSPLEPYHIYPEAKSCPVAKVGLWNGTPAHVFSGYEDVRTVLQDRRFSS DSRRPNFTELTPTLQSQAAAPPFVRTDNPDHRRLRGTIAREFLPKHIELLRPAIREIVQG VLDGLAETAPPQDMLEAFAVPVASATVFRLLGIPAEDRALLTRCVKGVVSAVGSEDEGAE VFRTLGEYIGGLVQDPSELPEDSLIRRLVTGPYQEKQLTFHETIGVILMLIVGGYDTTAS TISLSLVSYALQPEKFSVVHEHPERIPLLVEELLRYHTVSQLGLGRIATEDVEVGGVTVR AGQMVVAALPLANRDESVFPNPDELDFDRPSVPHVGFGYGPHQCVGQALARVELQEAIPA VIRRLPGMRLACALEDLPFRHDMATYGIHELPMTW txtD (scab31841) (SEQ ID NO: 7) TTGCCCGCCCCGTCCCCGACAGCGTGCCCGGCACTGGGGCCCGATTCGTCCCTTGGCCCG GTCCCGTCGGCGGAACCGGCGACGCCGCAGTCCTGCGGCGTCGCCGATCCAAATGAGGCT GAGGAGTTCCTGCGCCAGTTCCACGCGGAGCAGTCCGATCAGCCCGTCCCGCTCGCCCGG CGCCTGGAGCAGGTCCGCGCCGCCATCGACGCCACGGGCACCTACCGGCACACCACCGCC GAGCTCGTGTACGGTGCCCGCGTCGCGTGGCGCAACTCCAGTCGCTGCATCGGCCGCCTG TACTGGAACAGCCTGCGCGTCCTGGACCGCCGGGACGCCACAGCCCCCGATGAGATCCAC CGGCACTTGTGCACGCACCTGCGCCAGGCGACCAACGGCGGGCGCATCAGGCCGGTGATT TCGGTCTTCGCCCCGGACTCCCCCGGCCGGCCCGGCCCGCAGGTGTGGAACGAGCAGCTC ATCCGGTACGCCGGCTACCGCCGCGACGACGGCACCGTGCTCGGTGACCCGCGCACCGCC GACCTCACCGAGGCCATCCTCCGCCTCGGCTGGCAGGGCTGCCCCCAAGGGCCGTTCGAC GTCCTGCCCCTGGTCATCGACACCCCCGACGACAAACCCCGGTTCTTCGAGCTGCCGCGG GAGCTGGTCTTGGAGGTCCCTATCACCCACCCCGACGTCCCACGCCTGGCCGAACTGGGC CTGCGCTGGCACGCCGTACCCGTCATCTCCAACATGCGCCTACGCATCGGCGGGATGGAC TACCCGCTCGCCCCGTTCAACGGCTGGTACATGGGCACGGAGATCGGCGCCCGCAACCTC GTCGACGAGGACCGCTACAACATGCTCCCCGCCGTCGCCGCCTGCCTCCAGCTGGACACC ACCAGCGAGTCAACCCTGTGGCGCGACCGCGCCCTGGTCGAGCTCAACGTCGCCGTCCTG CACTCCTTCGAGGCCGCAGGTGTCCGGATCAGCGACCACCACGAGGAGTCCCGGCGCTTC CTCGCCCACCTGGCCAAGGAGGAACGCCAGGGCCGCACCGTATCCGCAGACTGGAGCTGG ATCGTCCCCCCGCTCTCCGGCGGCATCACCCCCGTGTTCCACCGTTACTACGACAACGTC GACCAGCGCCCCAACTTCTACCCCCACCAGTGA TxtD (scab31841) (SEQ ID NO: 8) LPAPSPTACPALGPDSSLGPVPSAEPATPQSCGVADPNEAEEFLRQFHAEQSDQPVPLAR RLEQVRAAIDATGTYRHTTAELVYGARVAWRNSSRCIGRLYWNSLRVLDRRDATAPDEIH RHLCTHLRQATNGGRIRPVISVFAPDSPGRPGPQVWNEQLIRYAGYRRDDGTVLGDPRTA DLTEAILRLGWQGCPQGPFDVLPLVIDTPDDKPRFFELPRELVLEVPITHPDVPRLAELG LRWHAVPVISNMRLRIGGMDYPLAPFNGWYMGTEIGARNLVDEDRYNMLPAVAACLQLDT TSESTLWRDRALVELNVAVLHSFEAAGVRISDHHEESRRFLAHLAKEERQGRTVSADWSW IVPPLSGGITPVFHRYYDNVDQRPNFYPHQ txtE (scab31831)  (SEQ ID NO: 9) GTGACCGTCCCCTCGCCGCTCGCCGACCCGTCCATCGTGCCCGACCCCTACCCTGTCTAC GCCGACCTGGCCCAGCGCCGCCCCGTCCACTGGGTCGAGCGCCTGAACGCCTGGGCGGTC TTGACGTACGCCGACTGCGCCGCCGGGCTGAAGGATCCCCGGCTCACCGCCGACCGGGGG ACGGAAGTGCTGGCCGCGAAGTTCCCCGGACAGCCGCTGCCGCCGGACAACATCTTCCAC CGCTGGACCAAGAACGTGGTGATGTACACGGACCCGCCGCTCCACGACGCGCTACGCCGG TCCGTCCGCGCAGGCTTCACCCGTGCCGCGCACCAGCACTACGACCAAGTCCTCCAGAAG GTCGCGCACGACCTGGTCGCTTCCATCCCGGCCGGTGCCACCGAGATCGACGCCGTCCCC GCCCTGGCTGCCGAACTCCCCGTACGCTCCGCCGTGCACGCCTTCGGGGTCCCCGAGGAG GACCTCGGATTCCTCATCCCGCGCGTGAATACGATCATGACGTACCACTCCGGTCCGAAG GATCAGCCGGTGACGCAGGAGATAATCCTGGAAAAGCTCACCGACCTGCACACGTACGCC TCCGAACTCCTCCAGGGCATGCGGGGCAAGGTCCTGCCGGACACCGTCATCGCCCGCCTG GCAGCCGCCCAGGACGGCCTGACCGAGACCACGCCGGAACAGACCGTGCACCAGCTGGCG CTGGTGTTCATCGCGTTGTTCGCGCCCACGACGCCGGGCTCTCTCAGCAGCGGCACGCTC GCGTTCGCCCGCAACCCGCGGCAGGTCGAACGCTTCCTGGCGGACCAGGCGTGCGTGGAC AACACGGCGAACGAGGTCCTCCGCTACAACGCCTCGAACCAGTTCACCTGGCGCGTCGCG GCCAAGGACGTCGAGATGGGCGGCGTACGGATCGAGGCCGGGCAGACTCTCGCCCTGTTC CTGGGCTCGGCCAACCGGGACGCCAACATGTTCGAGCGACCGAACGACTTCGACCTCGAC CGTCCCAACAGCGCTCGGCACCTGTCGTTCGGCCAAGGGGTGCACGCCTGTCTCGCCGCG CAGCTCATCTCCCTGCAGCTGAAGTGGTTCTACGTCGCCCTGCTGAACCGCTTCCCGGGC ATCCGGACGGCGGGCGAGCCGATCTGGAACGAGAACCTCGAATTCCGCTCCCTTCGCTCC CTGCCGCTCAGCCTCCGCTGA TxtE (scab31831) (SEQ ID NO: 10) VTVPSPLADPSIVPDPYPVYADLAQRRPVHWVERLNAWAVLTYADCAAGLKDPRLTADRG TEVLAAKFPGQPLPPDNIFHRWTKNVVMYTDPPLHDALRRSVRAGFTRAAHQHYDQVLQK VAHDLVASIPAGATEIDAVPALAAELPVRSAVHAFGVPEEDLGFLIPRVNTIMTYHSGPK DQPVTQEIILEKLTDLHTYASELLQGMRGKVLPDTVIARLAAAQDGLTETTPEQTVHQLA LVFIALFAPTTPGSLSSGTLAFARNPRQVERFLADQACVDNTANEVLRYNASNQFTWRVA AKDVEMGGVRIEAGQTLALFLGSANRDANMFERPNDFDLDRPNSARHLSFGQGVHACLAA QLISLQLKWFYVALLNRFPGIRTAGEPIWNENLEFRSLRSLPLSLR txtH (scab31771) (SEQ ID NO: 11) GTGCCCTCACCCTTCGACGACCATGACGGGCAGTTCCATGTGCTCCGCAACGAGGAAGGC CAGTTCTCACTCTGGCCGAATTTCGCCGACATCCCCTCCGGGTGGCGTTCCGTGAGCGGG CCGAGCCCCCGCGGAAGCGCCCTTGAGTACATCGAGAAGGAATGGACGGACATGCGCCCG GCGTCCGTCCGTGAATGA TxtH (scab31771) (SEQ ID NO: 12) VPSPFDDHDGQFHVLRNEEGQFSLWPNFADIPSGWRSVSGPSPRGSALEYIEKEWTDMRP ASVRE txtR (scab31801) (SEQ ID NO: 13) ATGACGGACGGCGACGTTCCCTTTTCGATGAATGTGCCCGTTGCTTCGCGACTCCTCGTACTGC GTTTCGCCGACGAAGCGAAGGATGGACTCCCGGTGTCGCCTCGGGGGACTTTTATCGTGACGGA TGCTGCCAAGGGTCCCGGATCCGGATTTCTTTTTTCGTTCTTGAATACCCTGGCTGTGGAGATGA TGAAAACCGATGGGATTCTGTCCTCGTATATGGAGGAGGTCGTGCGCATCCTGGCGATCTCCGC GACGCGAATCGCATATGCCGAGCTCGGAAAGCATTACTCTGGGGGATGCGATCCACTTCTGATC GCGGTTCAGGAGTCGATCGACCGGCAGTTGGCCGACCCCGAGATCAGCCCGGCGACCCTCGCG GCCGAACACAACATATCGGTGCGTCAGTTACATCGAGTTTTCGGACCGATCGGGGAAAGCGTCA TGAGCTATGTCAAACGCCGTCGCCTGGAGCGTTTCGCATGCGATCTGAGGGATCCGAGCCTGGG GCACCGGAAGATCAATGAGCTGGCGGCGGACTGGGGGATGCTGGATGCCGCGATGCTGAGCAG ACACTTCCGCTGCGCCTACGGAATGTCGCCCCGCGATTACCGGAAGCAGCACTGTTTCACCTGA TxtR (scab31801) (SEQ ID NO: 14) MTDGDVPFSMNVPVASRLLVLRFADEAKDGLPVSPRGTFIVTDAAKGPGSGFLFSFLNTLAVEMMKT DGILSSYMEEVVRILAISATRIAYAELGKHYSGGCDPLLIAVQESIDRQLADPEISPATLAAEHNIS VRQLHRVFGPIGESVMSYVKRRRLERFACDLRDPSLGHRKINELAADWGMLDAAMLSRHFRCAYGMS PRDYRKQHCFT Promoter sequences (from Streptomyces albus J1074) P1 (SEQ ID NO: 15) CTCGTGAGGCTAGCTCCGCCGCGGACCCCGCTCGCGCCGGGGCCCGCCGAACGGTGCCGGGC GCGCGGCGCCACGAGTACGGCAGGTGTACCGTTGTCAACGCCTGACCTGCGGCAATCAAACATC CGGGTGAAGTGATCTTTCCCTCTACCGGTGCCGAGCTTCTGCGTGCTAGGCTCGCCGCAAGTTG CAGTTTGGTTTCCCTTGCAGTACAGAGCCTGCGGAGCATGTGACCGCAGGCTCTCGTCATTTTCA GACTTTTGCACTTGTTTTCACACTTGCAGGTTCTGGAGCAGGGCAACCCTTTGGCCCAAGGAGGG CTT P6 (SEQ ID NO: 16) GGCGCCGACCGCACCACACTCACGAGGGCCCGCCCCACCAACAGGGGGCGGGCCCTCTGTGC TGGCCTCAGGCGCCGACCGGGCTCGGTGCCCTCAAGCGCCGGCCGGGCTCCAAGGGTGGCCT CAAGCGCCGGCCGGGCTGAGTTGGGCCGGTCTGGGCCCGCACGCGCGCCTCACTGACGGCCT CAAGCGCCGGCCGGGCTATCTATAGCCCGGCCGGCGCTTGAGGCCGTCTTTGGCGCGCGCCTG TGAGCGGACGGCCCGTCAAAGATCAGCCCGGCCGGCGCTTGAGGCCATCTTTCGAGCCCGGCC GGCGTTTGAGGCCACCCCACCCCCGCCCCGGCAGGGGCGGCCTGACCTCCGCATCCGCCGGC GCGGACAGGGCACCCCCAGTAGACGGGCGCGGGGCCGGAGGCCCCTAGCGCCTTGCACTCTC CTACCCCGAGTGCTAATTATTGGCGTTAGCACTCTCCGAGTGAGAGTGACAGAAGGACCGGGTCG GTGAGGCCCGCTGGCCACGCGGGGCAAGGAACCGCGAGGCAGGCAGGCCGTCCGTCGCGGG CGCCAGCACGGTCCGGAGTATCCACCCTCCCCCAGACAGAGTCCGGGGGGACCCCCAGTCCTG GGAGGACCACTTCA P7 (SEQ ID NO: 17) TCCAGAGATGTCCGGCGTGCGCGTCCCGTGGGGCGCGTGGGCCGGCGGATTCGTCCGTCCGG GCGGGTCCTGCGACGGTCTGCGGCCGGGACGCATAAGGATCAGCGCATCGGGGCATTGTTCCTC GATTCGCCTTTTGCGGGAGCCCTGGCGTAGACTGACGCGTCGGCTCTCGTGCACCCGTATGTCC GTATGGATGTGCAAGGGACACGGAGCCGGTCAAGGTAGTCGATTCGAAGGGCGAAG P8 (SEQ ID NO: 18) TACGGCACCTCCTGCGGAAGCGGCGCTCACCTCGGTGCGGGGCACCGGTGCTGCGCATCCGGT GCCGAAGCACCCGATATACCCAGATTGCGGGCATCGGCGGCCGGATTTCAACCGGAAGCGGTCG TGCGGGTACTCTGTACCGTCTGCACCGGTGTCTGCCCAGATCCTGGATCACCCGCTCACCACGG CTCCCGCTCGCGGGGTCCGCCGTCAGCGGTGGCCGATACCGTTGCGCTCGCATCAAGACCCTC CTGCCACGGAACGACCGTGGCCGCTGAGTCCAAAGGAGGTGGGTTCTA P9 (SEQ ID NO: 19) TCCGCTCCTCCGGGCGGGGTCCGCGGATCCCGCCCGGAGGCCGTGCTTCCGGGCGATTTGCCT CGCGCCGCCCGGCTCCCGTACTCTTCCCTAGAAGCCAAAGACCGCTGGTCGTTACCGTCTGCTC CTCGGAGAGGGCGGTGGCCGAAGGATTCCGCTCACGCGGACGGCCTGCGTAGGTGACTGTGGA TGTGCTCCTGGACGTGTTACGGCCAGTCGAGCTCACGCCCCGTGCGCCTGCGCCGGGGCGTTT TTCGTCTTACGCAGACTTTCCTGCCCGACGTCCTTCCTCACGTGCCTGATCCAGACGGTCCCAGT GCTGTACGAGGCTGATCGCAAGGTCAGTCGAGGATCATCACCCCGGAAGGAGGCCGAGGCT P10 (SEQ ID NO: 20) CGCACACCTGCTCTCGCAGATCACGCGCGACGCACAGCAGTATCACCAAACGCAGTGCCCGCCT CTTCCCGTGTCCTGAACACGTGAGAAGGGCGGTACCCCCGGTCGGAGGCCGGGGACCCGTTCC GTTCCATGCCCCTCGGCGGCTCCGTCCGCCCCGGTGGATCGGCGGTCGGGAGCGGCACTGCG GCAGACCTCCGACAGACAACTGGAGCCATTAG P11 (SEQ ID NO: 21) ATCCCGCTCTTCAGGGATTCACCGGGCCTCTGGTAAGCAACCAGGCGGCGGACGATCTTCCTCC GATGGCTTAGGCTGGAGAGGTTGGCCGTCCGCCGCCCTGGACAGCCCGCGGACGCTCACCACT GAGCAGTCCGCATATGACGCTTACTACGCCGCAGGTCCCCGCGCCGCACCCGTCCCGTCCCGGA TCGGGGAGAGGGATGGCGCATACAGGAAACCCCGGCGAGAAAGGCCGAAGGCCGATT P13 (SEQ ID NO: 22) GAGTGCTCCTGCCTCGGGACCGGCGGACAAGCGGCCGGTCTGATCATCGGGGCAGCAACATATG ACTCCGGCACATGTCAGGGAGCTCCGAACGGGTGCGTTCACCCTGATGGGGGAGTACGGGAGC GCCCGTGCGGAAGATCCTCGAAGGGTGTCCCGCCCTCGTTCGGCCGCGTCCGCGTTTGACGGC GGGAAGGCCGGGGGTAAGCTTCTCGGCTCGATTGGCTCTACGCGGGGCCCGTGTGGCAGACTG TCCGGGTTGCTCGGTTGAGTGCCGATGCCGCGCGCCTCCCGCCGGGAGGACTGGAAGCGAGTC CCACAGTACTCGTCGCCTCAACTGCCCCAGGTTCGCCGAAGGCAGCGCTGTGGCGGACGTACG GGAATCTTCCGGGAAGCGTGTGCGGGGTACCAGCCAGGCGCCCGGTGGTCACCACACCGCAAG GTGTGGCTTCACCGAACCGCGTGGCCACGGTGTGGAACGCAGCCCCCCAGATGGGATTCCGCG AGGAAATTTCGTACGGGCGGGAAGGCGACACACCCGACCGCGTGGGTCGGAGAGAGAGACCGG ACCCCGGGTCCCAGAGCGTTACGAGAGACAGGACTACCAAGTAGC P20 (SEQ ID NO: 23) CGGGAATTGTGCCGGGTTTGCGGCTTGCGCCCCGGGTGTGCGCCTTCGCGCATTGACCCTGTCC GGCTGCCCCCGTATGCTACAAGTTGCGCTGCGAGCCTGCGCTCCTCAGACCTAGCAGGATGTGC TCGCTTCTGTTGTGTGTCCCCTCGGTTGTACGAGGCGAGGACCCCCGGTTTCCCGGAGGTCGCG CCTCTGAAGGCTGTCCGACTGCTGCAGAGTGAAACCGGCTCCGTGCGCGGCAGTACCTACGACT TCATGTCCGTACCGGAGCCCTTTCCCA P23 (SEQ ID NO: 24) CGGGACCTCGGCGACCACCTTGTCGAGCAGCGCCTCGACGCCCAGGCCGGTCTTGGCGGAGAC CTTGAGCACGTCGGAGGGGTCGCGTGGTCCTGGTTCTTGAGACGTCGAGACGTCGAGGCGGGC GGGCGGCGCGGAGCCGGACGGGGGCAGTAGGCGCCTCACCTCGGGTGGGCTCACGCCGCCTG GGCGCGCCCACCGGGCCGGCACACGACCCCCGGGGTCCGCGGCCCCCATCGTCCCATGCGCG GGGACCGGCGACCGGTTTGGGCCGCGCGTGGGGCCGCTGGTAGCCTGGCCCGATGTGTCTCGT AGCCCTCTCAGCGTCGGGACACGACCGGAAACACCCAACCTGAACCTGTAAAGGCTCTTT P24 (SEQ ID NO: 25) CGGCCCCCTCCCCGTGGTTCCCCGTTCCCCGTCCGCGCCCGCGTGGCCCGTACGGCGGTACGG ACGGGGCGGGACGGGTCAACGTACTGACCCCCCGGCCCAGGTGGCCCGCCCTTGACCGGAATG AATCCCCCCGCCCCGCTACTCGGCGGGAAAGCTGCGCTCTGTGGCCGAAAACACACAGAGGGT GGGAGGGGGCGTGCCGGGGGCCGGCGAACGATTCCGGCCAGGGTGCCCCTGGCACCACCCG GCGGCCCGGTGTAGCGTCCCCCGCGGGACCAGAAGACGATCATGCAGCGGAGGGCGCCGGTC CGCCCCGGGGTACGGGGCGTCTGACCAGCCCGTCCGCTGCGCGTGCATTTGTTTTGACCGAACT CCGTGCGATAGGTACGCTCAGACCTTGTGCCTGGGGTGTGCCTGGGCTCCCGTGCGTGTCCAAC CCGCGCGGCGAGCGTCAGGCGTCAGCACCGCAATCTGCGCTTCTCCCGTGTGCTAGCGGGGCT CCGCGGTATTCGACACACCCGACCGCGTGGGTCGGGAGTGTTCCAGGTTAGCTTTACCTGTTCG GCACACAGAAACCGGAGAAGTA P28 (SEQ ID NO: 26) TGCCCGCTCCCTCTTCACGTCCCGACGGCGAAACCGGCCGCCCAGTCTGCCGTGCCCGGCCCG GTCCCACCACCTCCTCCGGCGGACGCCCCCCGAAGGAGCGGACCCGCCCCCGACTTCCGGCC GGCGGCGCCCCCGACCTCGTAGAACCCCGCCCGAGCGCCCGGCGTCAACCTCGCGCCCACGC GTCACCCGGCCCCTTCCCGGCTGCGGCGCGACCGGCTCCCCGCCCCTGCTACTCTGTCCGAGG CCGTCTGTGCCCACGTCCCGAGCCCCGCGTTCGACACGCGGTCCCGGACGACCGGACGGATCC ATCCGCCTCCCGAGTCACCGAAGCCTCCCCTGAGACGAAGACCAGGGGCGCTCGGAGGCAAGC GAAGACATCACAGAGGAGTACG P31 (SEQ ID NO: 27) CCGGACCTCTCCTCACGCTCACCCTGCGCGCTTCCGCGCGACAGGCACAATTACCCGTATATGTC CCGACTCGCCCACAGTCTCCGCCTTCGGCCGGGTCATTCCCCCGACCGACCCGGCCCGGCCCA CCCATTTCCGGCCCGGCCGGCGTTTGAGGCCGACCGGTGACGGACACCCGAAGCCCTCGGAGC GCGCTCGGCATCAGCCCGGACGACGCTTGAGGCCACCTCGACCGCCGCCGGACGGCTTCATCC GAAGTGCCTCTGAACTGGTAAAACGAGCCGTGCTGGCAGCTCTCTGCACAACCAGGCAGAACAA AACTTGAGCCCGTCCGACTCAACCGCATTGACGCGCCGCGTCCCCTCGTGCATCCTTGAGTGAG TTCCACTCAAGTAGTCAGCTGGAGGAATTGA Ksaop* (SEQ ID NO: 28) TGTTCACATTCGAACGGTCTCTGCTTTGACAACATGCTGTGCGGTGTTGTAAAGTCGTGGCCAGG AGAATACGACAGCGTGCAGGACTGGGGGAGTT P6E-P1D (SEQ ID NO: 29) GGCGCCGACCGCACCACACTCACGAGGGCCCGCCCCACCAACAGGGGGCGGGCCCTCTGTGC TGGCCTCAGGCGCCGACCGGGCTCGGTGCCCTCAAGCGCCGGCCGGGCTCCAAGGGTGGCCT CAAGCGCCGGCCGGGCTGAGTTGGGCCGGTCTGGGCCCGCACGCGCGCCTCACTGACGGCCT CAAGCGCCGGCCGGGCTATCTATAGCCCGGCCGGCGCTTGAGGCCGTCTTTGGCGCGCGCCTG TGAGCGGACGGCCCGTCAAAGATCAGCCCGGCCGGCGCTTGAGGCCATCTTTCGAGCCCGGCC GGCGTTTGAGGCCACCCCACCCCCGCCCCGGCAGGGGCGGCCTGACCTCCGCATCCGCCGGC GCGGACAGGGCACCCCCAGTAGACGGGCGCGGGGCCGGAGGCCCCTAGCGCCTTGCACTCTC CTACCCCGAGTGCTAATTATTGGCGTTAGCACTCTCCGAGTGAGAGTGACAGAAGGACCGGGTCG GTGAGGCCCGCTGGCCACGCGGGGCAAGGAACCGCGAGGCAGGCAGGCCGTCCGTCGCGGG CGCCAGCACGGTCCGGAGTATCCACCCTCCCCCAGACAGAGTCCGGGGGGACCCCCAGTCCTG GGAGGACCACTTCA

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1-40. (canceled)
 41. A genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium comprising: a Streptomyces bacterium from a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain, the Streptomyces bacterium comprising an exogenous, refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprising one or more thaxtomin modules, each thaxtomin module comprising: one or more thaxtomin genes from a thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster from a plant pathogenic Streptomyces bacterium, wherein if the thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprises only one thaxtomin module, that thaxtomin module comprises two or more thaxtomin genes, and one or more promoters operably linked to the one or more thaxtomin genes in the one or more thaxtomin modules, such that expression of the thaxtomin genes in the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions, wherein the non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain without the refactored thaxtomin cluster does not have the ability to produce the thaxtomin compound.
 42. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of claim 41, wherein the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprises at least two thaxtomin modules.
 43. (canceled)
 44. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of claim 42, wherein the at least two thaxtomin modules comprise: a first module, module 1, comprising a txtE and a txtD biosynthetic gene and a second module, module 2, comprising a txtA, a txtB, and txtH biosynthetic gene.
 45. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of claim 44, further comprising a third module, module 3, comprising a txtC biosynthetic gene, and wherein the at least one thaxtomin compound comprises thaxtomin A.
 46. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of claim 41, wherein the at least one thaxtomin compound comprises thaxtomin A.
 47. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of claim 44, wherein none of the thaxtomin modules comprise txtC and wherein the at least one thaxtomin compound comprises thaxtomin D.
 48. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of claim 41, wherein the pathogenic Streptomyces strain is selected from the group of plant pathogenic Streptomyces species whose genomes carry the thaxtomin gene cluster, consisting of: Streptomyces scabiei, Streptomyces acidiscabies, and Streptomyces turgidiscabies.
 49. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of claim 41, wherein the Streptomyces bacterium from a non-pathogenic Streptomyces strain is selected from species of S. albus.
 50. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of claim 41, wherein the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster is operably linked to a nucleotide sequence encoding at least one selectable marker.
 51. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of claim 41, wherein thaxtomin-inducing conditions comprises media containing cellobiose.
 52. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of claim 41, wherein the thaxtomin genes in each module are different from the other module.
 53. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of claim 41, wherein each module comprises one or more promoters, one or more ribosomal binding site, and one or more terminators, wherein the promoter for each module can be the same or different.
 54. The genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium of claim 41, wherein the one or more promoter in each module is independently selected from the group of constitutive promoters consisting of: P1, P6, P7, P8, P9, P10, P11, P13, P20, P23, P24, P28, P31, and Ksaop*.
 55. A method of producing a thaxtomin compound, the method comprising: culturing a plurality of genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria of claim 41 in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions, such that expression of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster provides the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacterium with the ability to produce at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions.
 56. The method of claim 55, further comprising extracting the thaxtomin compound from the culture medium.
 57. The method of claim 55, wherein culturing the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions comprises culturing the genetically engineered Streptomyces bacteria in a culture medium that does not contain cellobiose.
 58. The method of claim 55, wherein the one or more thaxtomin modules comprise a txtE biosynthetic gene, a txtD biosynthetic gene, a txtA biosynthetic gene, a txtB, and a txtH biosynthetic gene and one or more promoters operably linked to the biosynthetic genes.
 59. The method of claim 58, wherein the one or more thaxtomin modules further comprise a txtC biosynthetic gene and wherein the at least one thaxtomin compound is thaxtomin A.
 60. The method of claim 58, wherein none of the thaxtomin modules comprise txtC and wherein the at least one thaxtomin compound comprises thaxtomin D.
 61. A refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprising: one or more thaxtomin modules, each thaxtomin module comprising: one or more thaxtomin genes from a thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster from a pathogenic Streptomyces bacteria, wherein if the thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster comprises only one thaxtomin module, that thaxtomin module comprises two or more thaxtomin genes, and one or more promoters operably linked to the one or more thaxtomin genes, wherein the one or more thaxtomin modules form a refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster such that expression of the refactored thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster produces at least one thaxtomin compound in the absence of thaxtomin-inducing conditions. 